S  SOLD   BY   C.  WHIP 

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[g]  Newhuriiport._ 

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CHRISTIAN    RADICALISM, 


BY 


WILLIAM  WITHINGTON. 


*  0  dficxQTdvfov  tvavTv  jov   TtoiTjaavrog  dvzov^ 
€fl7l6GOI'  stg  /£*^a^  mTQO\>.     i        / 

ECCLESIASTICUS. 

* Hfietg  dvTol   hv    iavjotg   (TTSvd'Qo^eVy    eade- 


m.  H!^^ 


Paulus. 


OF  THB 


7-^ 


(UNIVJLE 


BOSTON: 
PRINTED  BY  PERKINS  &  MARVIN. 


1836. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1836, 

By  William  Withington, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  DistrictCourt  of  Massachusetts. 


PREFACE. 


The  following  work  is  partly  original,  and  partly  con- 
sisting of  articles  before  published.  It  seemed  necessary 
to  republish  these,  in  order  to  present  fully  the  author's 
views;  or  else,  to  write  anew  the  substance  in  another 
form ;  in  which  no  important  advantages  were  seen. 

Some  may  think,  I  have  discordantly  mingled  theolog- 
ical doctrines  with  other  things.  I  can  only  say  in  self- 
defence,  that  1  have  endeavored  to  state  what  seemed  to 
me  truth,  according  to  its  connections  in  my  own  mind — 
to  present  my  conclusions  according  to  the  trains  of 
thought,  by  which  I  had  arrived  at  them.  The  truth 
revealed  by  God  in  his  word,  and  the  truth  disclosed  by 
man's  conduct  as  created  for  this  life,  seem  to  me  to 
reflect  the  clearest  light  on  each  other :  and  I  am  con- 
scious, that  I  should  have  apprehended  neither  with  my 
present  satisfaction,  but  for  the  help  derived  from  a  com- 
parison of  the  two.  I  have  endeavored  to  read  the  word 
of  God,  and  to  mark  human  conduct,  for  myself,  unham- 
pered by  systems  of  divinity,  or  systems  of  philosophy.  I 
have  expressed  my  own  sentiments  fearlessly ;  without 
expecting  to  find  any  party  ready  to  respond  to  them 
fully.  Unless  therefore  the  work  should  fall  into  the 
hands  of  an  isolated  reader,  here  and  there,  prepared  for 
this  ;  in  consideration  of  what  the  reader  may  find  to 
approve,  1  must  crave  his  indulgence  for  the  rest.  I 
claim  no  peculiar  credit  for  venturing  upon  such  a  work. 
If  anywise  fitted  for  it,  it  is  because  few,  who  ha^ve  de- 
voted much  attention  to  passing  objects  of  interest,  have 
been  kept  less  connected  with,  or  less  pledged  to,  any 
sect,  party,  or  denomination  ;  and  this  by  that  overruling 


IV 

Divinity,  which  so  often  thwarts  our  wills,  to  shape  our 
rough-hewn  ends. 

After  all,  my  views  of  human  conduct  coincide  with 
those,  which  the  shrewdest  observers  have  adopted  inde- 
pendently of  revelation.  He  who  can  talk  with  Brown 
of  human  virtue,  must  be  acute  only  for  the  speculations 
of  the  closet.  1  know  not,  whether  governor  McDuffie 
be  a  very  devout  student  of  the  Scriptures :  for  the  fol- 
lowing sentiment  in  his  inaugural  speech,  might  either 
have  been  learned  from  them,  or  from  general  history  and 
observation. 

"  However  melancholy  the  fact  may  be,  all  history  is 
but  a  bloody  testimony  to  establish  it,  that  no  community 
of  men  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  in  any  age,  or  under  any 
dispensation,  political  or  religious,  ever  has  been  governed 
by  justice  in  its  negotiations  or  conflicts  with  other  states. 
No,  gentlemen,  it  is  not  justice  and  magnanimity,  but  in- 
terest and  ambition — dignified  and  disguised  under  the 
name  of  State  Policy — that  ever  has  governed,  and  ever 
will  govern  masses  of  men,  acting  as  poUtical  communi- 
ties." 

His  excellency's  design  did  not  lead  him  to  speak  of 
"  masses  of  men,"  otherwise  than  as  "  political  communi- 
ties." But  neither  reason  nor  observation  demands  the 
restriction  of  the  sentiment  to  masses  acting  in  that  ca- 
pacity. His  anticipation  that  it  "  ever  will "  be  so, 
seems  to  justify  the  surmise,  that  he  came  to  his  conclu- 
sion more  from  the  study  of  secular  history,  than  of  that 
volume,  which  declares,  that  "  a  king  shall  reign  in 
righteousness,  and  princes  shall  rule  in  judgment." 

The  fact  of  this  supreme  preponderance  of  the  selfish 
principle  is  quite  consistent  with  another,  that  men  gen- 
erally are  not  conscious  of  designedly  sacrificing  all  the 
best  interests  of  others  to  their  own  selfish  ends.  The 
consciousness  of  so  doing  is  too  painful :  they  therefore 
generally  contrive,  but  too  successfully,  to  hide  the  plain 
truth  from  themselves.  But  though  selfishness  may 
generally  operate  first  to  pervert  the  judgment,  it  is  not 
the  less  a  reality.  Did  men  love  their  neighbor  as  them- 
selves, it  would  not  be  so.  For  the  want  of  such  love, 
and  the  consequences,  they  are  fully  responsible.  Only 
in  this  negative  or  constructive  sense,  I  suppose,  did  the 


apostle  mean  to  characterize  men,  till  born  again,  as 
«'  hateful  and  hating  one  another." 

But  here,  men  who  asjree  upon  the  fact,  differ  as  to  the 
moral  construction.  They  who  will  not  admit  the  perfect 
reasonableness  of  God's  demand  to  be  loved  with  all  the 
heart,  and  strength,  and  mind,  and  that  man  love  his 
neighbor  as  himself,  plead  the  incompetence  of  human 
infirmity  to  exercise  fully  such  love,  in  mitigation  of  the 
sentence  of  condemnation.  In  accordance  with  this, 
there  is  a  vast  deal  of  loose  popular  reasoning,  as  if,  so 
far  as  the  conduct  of  men  may  be  certainly  calculated  on, 
so  far  as  it  may  be  resolved  into  laws  invariably  acting — 
they  are  not  perfect  moral  agents — they  cannot  rightly 
be  held  strictly  accountable  for  every  deviation  from  the 
perfect  law  of  God.  But  this  resolving  of  transgression 
into  the  excusable  necessity  imposed  by  our  constitution 
and  circumstances,  is  really  to  throw  the  guilt  upon  God  ; 
unless  I  have  exerted  my  closest  powers  of  analysis  in 
vain. 

May  the  time  soon  come,  when  it  shall  be  generally 
and  fully  admitted,  that  the  word  of  God  contains  the 
soundest  and  most  practical  philosophy  of  the  human 
mind;  how  m.iserably  short-sighted  selfishness  overlooks 
the  truest  interest  and  the  truest  honor,*  in  its  groveling 
search  and  eager  grasp ;  and  how  miserably  we  consult 
for  the  dignity  of  human  nature,  when  we  strive  to  exalt 
it,  by  evading  the  charges,  which  our  Sovereign  brings 
against  us.  This  strife  has  ever  resulted  in  our  worse 
degradation.  We  accordingly  see,  that  the  men  most 
actively  and  ardently  engaged  in  vindicating  man's  true 
dignity,  have  been  the  men,  who  most  scorned  to  glory 
in  aught,  save  in  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ — who 
most  fully. admitted  the  conclusion,  that  if  one  died  for  all, 
then  were  all  dead.  Such  have  been  the  principles  of 
the  leading  spirits  in  the  capital  revolutions  for  rescuing 

*  "  He  said  to  me  after  his  return  from  abroad,  that  he  had  at  some 
periods  indulged  hopes  of  such  honors  as  our  profession  could  afford, 
but  that  he  had  totally  renounced  all  such  hopes  and  wishes  for  that, 
which  he  deemed  of  much  more  importance,  the  beinsj  truly  useful 
to  his  fellow  men." — Memoir  of  James  Jackson^  Jr.,  M.  D. 

Alas  !  that  in  any  profession  the  highest  honors  should  be  consid- 
ered as  so  distinct  from  the  being  truly  useful  to  one's  fellow  men. 


VI      . 

mankind  from  superstition  and  bondage.  And  however 
one  may  speculate,  he  hardly  doubts,  that  such  are  the 
principles  of  him,  who,  to  vindicate  man's  true  dignity, 
forsakes  kindred  and  home,  and  braves  a  polar  winter,  or 
a  tropical  sun,  to  raise  intellects  debased  almost  below 
the  brutes  to  the  dignity  of  reasonable,  thinking,  and 
adoring  beings. 

I  must  now  request  the  reader  to  adopt  practically  the 
following  sentiment  from  the  Quarterly  Christian  Spec- 
tator, Vol.  VI.  p.  546.  "  He  who  loves  truth  will  not  be 
fastidious  of  the  quarter  whence  it  comes :  and  though  it 
may  seem  contrary  to  his  prejudices,  though  it  may  in- 
fringe on  some  venerable  form  of  belief,  or  be  opposed  to 
much  that  passes  for  knowledge  in  the  world  ;  yet  it  will 
be  welcomed,  and  its  influence  felt  and  allowed  on  the 
judgment  and  the  life." 

The  remarks  which  follow  in  the  Spectator,  on  the 
connection  between  holiness  and  independence  of  thought 
and  advancement  in  truth,  are  well  worthy  of  every 
reader's  consideration. 

I  have  discussed  topics  calculated  to  be  exciting.  Had 
it  been  my  object  to  rouse  popular  indignation  against 
men  interested  in  the  perpetuation  of  old  abuses,  and  to 
pufF  myself  into  notoriety  as  a  popular  leader,  I  see  abun- 
dant evidence,  how  easy  would  have  been  the  under- 
taking: and  this  is  only  saying,  that  whoever  undertakes 
to  raise  the  bad  passions  of  men,  has  a  very  easy  task 
before  him.  If  I  have  not  less,  I  have  not  such  ambition. 
I  have  been  ambitious,  (if  such  be  the  term,)  to  arouse 
public  sentiment  to  demand  some  radical  reforms,  without 
cherishing  viler  passions  than  a  sincere  desire  to  see  those 
by  education  the  adherents  of  conservative  principles 
brought  into  circumstances  safer  to  their  moral  principles, 
and  better  for  their  ultimate  welfare,  even  for  this  life. 
Whether  I  have  made  the  attempt  too  early,  remains  to 
be  seen.  For  the  credit  of  the  age,  I  hope  not.  As  to 
my  own  credit  in  the  attempt,  I  can  cheerfully  appeal  to 
the  ultimate  decision  of  an  intelligent  people  ;  and  still 
more  cheerfully  to  that  tribunal,  whither  we  are  all 
hastening. 


[UKIVEESr 

CHRISTIAN   RADICALISM. 


BODY  AND  SOUL. 
No.  I. 


One  principle  pervading  the  institutions  of 
Moses  is,  that  there  is  an  intimate  connection 
between  body  and  soul — that  a  foundation  for 
moral  and  religious  improvement  should  be  laid 
in  a  careful  attention  to  the  constitution  of  the 
human  body,  and  the  external  agents  affecting 
it.  I  believe,  that  a  vast  number  of  his  regula- 
tions, w^hich  generally  have  been  treated  as  ca- 
pricious and  frivolous,  or  more  piously  resolved 
into  the  good  pleasure  and  inexplicable  will  of 
the  Deity,  or  with  more  show  of  reason,  referred 
simply  to  the  necessity  of  establishing  some 
arbitrary  distinctions  between  the  people  of  God 
and  the  surrounding  idolatrous  nations,  have 
their  foundation  in  the  soundest  philosophy  of 

2 


10 

human  nature.  I  propose  to  show  in  a  few  in- 
stances, how  institutions,  generally  considered 
as  of  temporary  or  inexplicable  expediency,  rest 
upon  reasons  as  lasting  as  the  constitution  of 
nature. 

Moses  forbade  to  eat  blood  or  fat.  Nothing 
need  be  said  of  the  former.  As  to  the  latter,  it 
is  found  that  disease  in  an  animal  affects  the 
fat  before  the  lean.  The  former  may  be  dis- 
eased, while  the  latter  may  be  eaten  with  com- 
parative impunity.  The  regulation,  too,  was 
calculated  to  discourage  the  artificial  and  vicious 
manner  of  fattening  animals  now  almost  univer- 
sally practised.  Where  such  a  regulation  was 
in  force,  people  would  be  little  likely  to  stall- 
fatten  their  cattle  on  a  fermented  mixture  of 
chopped  vegetables  and  meal,  or  have  recourse 
to  the  various  expedients  for  creating  an  artifi- 
cial appetite,  in  order  to  load  the  animal  speedily 
with  artificial  fat.  Animals  thus  fattened  are  in 
fact  diseased :  and  the  owner  calculates  his 
immediate  interest  closely  enough,  to  kill  them, 
before  sudden  death  intervenes,  or  the  false  ap- 
pearance of  good-liking  gives  place  to  emaciation. 
The  penalty,  which  is  to  follow,  for  departing 
from  the  organic  law,  is  not  thought  of;  though 
it  is  matter  of  common  observation,  that  the 


11 

flesh  of  wild  animals,  which  live  after  nature's 
intention,  is  of  much  easier  digestion  than  that 
of  our  domestic  cattle — an  observation,  which 
might  have  led  sooner  to  the  inquiry,  what  in- 
juries we  are  bringing  on  ourselves,  through  the 
vicious  manner  in  which  we  are  treating  them. 

The  prohibition  of  fat  almost  includes  that  of 
swine's  flesh.  A  further  reason  might  be  found 
in  the  animal's  filthy  habits  of  feeding.  Fed  as 
these  creatures  generally  are  among  us,  on 
animal  and  vegetable  substances  in  a  state  of 
incipient  putrefaction,  their  flesh  must  be  any 
thing  but  wholesome,  and,  I  believe,  is  a  fruitful 
source  of  scrofula,  and  other  diseases.  In 
warmer  climates  the  consequences  must  be  still 
worse,  as  in  leprosy,  of  which,  I  believe,  it  is  the 
most  common  cause. 

The  great  amount  of  holy-day  season,  en- 
joined on  the  Israelites  through  Moses,  doubtless 
seems  to  be  a  great  drawback  on  the  great  busi- 
ness of  life,  to  those  political  economists,  who 
(in  the  language  of  Combe)  "  appear  to  conceive 
man's  chief  end,  in  Britain  at  least,  to  be  to 
manufacture  hard-ware,  broad-cloths,  and  cotton 
goods  for  the  use  of  the  whole  world,  and  to 
Btore  up  wealth."  *  But  the  multiplication  of 
*  Lectures  on  Popular  Education,  p.  69, 


12 

holy-day  seasons  tended  to  save  the  Israelites 
from  the  very  evil,  which  Combe  so  deeply  la- 
ments in  his  countrymen — "  the  excessive  culti- 
vation of  Acquisitiveness."  It  tended  to  secure 
the  good,  which  this  philosopher  and  his  associ- 
ates are  aiming  at,  in  urging  the  necessity  of 
gradually  reducing  the  time  of  work  for  the  labor- 
ing classes  to  about  eight  hours  per  day ;  that 
they  may  have  sufficient  time  for  intellectual 
and  moral  improvement,  that  the  whole  man 
may  be  duly  cultivated.  At  a  time  when  books 
were  scarce,  and  lyceums  and  lectureships 
not  the  order  of  the  day,  the  assembling  of  the 
whole  country  three  times  a  year  at  the  great 
festivals,  afforded  substantially  the  advantage  of 
these  modern  improvements :  it  afforded  oppor- 
tunity to  compare  ideas  with  men  of  other  pro- 
vinces, and  to  improve  by  an  interchange  of 
knowledge.  How  different  must  the  populace 
of  such  a  country  have  been,  from  the  tasked 
and  confined  operatives  and  peasantry  of  Eu- 
rope ! 

Again,  it  was  enjoined  in  the  Mosaic  institu- 
tions, that  the  land  should  rest  every  seventh 
year.  In  addition  to  what  has  just  been  stated, 
I  venture  to  say,  after  paying  not  a  very  little 
attention  to   agriculture  both  theoretically  and 


13 

practicaHy,  that  land  ought  to  rest  this  propor- 
tion of  time  :  that  by  forcing  a  crop  each  year 
through  a  long  series,  we  exhaust  and  disease 
the  soil :  the  produce  on  the  whole  is  less,  and 
becomes  ill-fitted  for  food  of  man  or  beast. 
During  the  fallow  year,  time  might  have  been 
taken  to  free  the  land  from  various  noxious 
weeds.  Or  it  might  have  l?een  trenched,  in 
order  to  bring  uppermost  a  new  portion  of  the 
Ksoil  for  cultivation  the  coming  six  years  :  and 
there  is  some  testimony  to  prove,  that  such  was 
actually  the  practice  of  the  Jews. 

I  can  select  only  a  few  specimens  bearing 
upon  the  point  in  question.  I  have  a  strong 
suspicion,  that  a  thorough  examination  of  the 
subject  would  satisfy  €very  fair  inquirer,  that 
Moses  could  have  so  well  anticipated  views,  to 
which  the  most  practical  inquirers  of  this  late 
age  are  coming,  only  through  divine  inspiration. 
He  did  not  prescribe  morality  and  religion  alone. 
He  knew  that  it  was  in  vain  to  look  for  manly 
piety,  honorable  to  God,  among  a  people  who 
neglected  to  observe  in  due  proportion  the 
physical  and  organic,  as  well  as  the  moral  laws. 
He  encouraged  the  cultivation  of  intellect,  and 
of  the  social  affections.  In  reward  for  observing 
his  statutes,  God  promised  to  bless  their  bread 

2* 


14 

and  their  water,  and  to  take  sickness  away  from 
the  midst  of  them.  (Ex.  xxiii.  25.)  There  is 
no  need  of  supposing,  this  was  to  be  done  by 
any  extraordinary  providence  :  we  may  consider 
it  as  the  natural  result  of  due  attention  to  clean- 
liness, proper  cultivation  of  the  soil,  judiciously 
interchanging  labor  with  recreation  and  cultiva- 
tion of  the  intellectual  and  moral  faculties ;  of 
not  pursuing  wealth  as  life's  whole  aim  and  end  ; 
of  being  temperate  in  all  things.  I  intend  to 
pursue  further  the  thoughts  now  suggested. 


BODY  AND  SOUL. 
No.  II. 

We  boast  of  the  improvements  of  the  age — of 
the  excellence  of  our  civil  and  domestic  institu- 
tions. Let  us  just  consider  some  particulars,  in 
which  w^e  profess  to  have  improved  on  the 
wisdom  of  former  ages. 

Our  agriculturalists  exact  of  the  soil  an  annual 
return.  It  is  in  vain,  that  God  has  so  consti- 
tuted it  as  to  require  septennially  or  thereabouts 


15 

a  year  of  rest.  Acquisitiveness  will  not  be  so 
restrained.  Artificial  manuring  must  supply 
what  God  intended  should  be  effected  by  other 
means.  Mark  the  cattle  feeding.  How  luxu- 
riant and  beautiful  to  the  eye  is  the  herbage, 
where  their  manure  is  dropped.*  But  the  animals 
avoid  it,  and  crop  again  and  again  the  scanty 
grass  which  intervenes.  Instinct  teaches  them, 
that  the  grass  so  fair  to  the  eye  is  bad  for  the 
stomach.  But  man  goes  right  counter  to  the 
important  lesson  thus  taught  him.  He  covers 
his  whole  field  with  a  top-dressing  of  rank  ma- 
nure ;  and  compels  his  cattle  to  eat  the  grass 
and  hay  thus  grown,  or  starve.  His  milch  cows 
escape  with  comparative  impunity :  for  4iature 
has  provided,  that  noxious  particles  taken  in  the 
food  shall  be  secreted  by  the  milk-vessels  :  and 
the  heaviest  part  of  the  penalty  falls  on  those, 
who  feed  on  the  milk,  or  on  the  butter  and 
cheese  manufactured  out  of  it. 

I  venture  to  affirm,  that  around  our  cities 
especially,  by  far  the  largest  part  of  the  land  is 
diseased  by  forced  cropping,  over  manuring,  and 
noxious  weeds.  But  it  would  require  a  volume 
to  treat  of  bad  husbandry  as  a  source  of  disease. 
Perhaps  we  should  trace  the  evil  back  to  the 
ceasing  to  yield  to  agriculture  that  pre-eminence 


16 

among  the  arts,  which  God  indicated  in  appoint- 
ing Adam  to  till  the  ground,  and  in  constituting 
his  chosen  people  so  eminently  an  agricultural 
people.  Now,  if  one  son  in  the  family  is  sup- 
posed to  give  indications  of  superior  parts,  it  is 
thought  a  pity  to  •retain  him  on  the  farm ;  he  is 
sent  to  the  counting-room  ;  and  it  s^ems  to  me, 
as  if  the  conscious  earth  resented  the  indignity. 
We  may  expect  wiser  conduct,  when  it  shall  be 
better  understood,  how  much  agriculture  requires 
to  be  reformed  by  the  light  of  science  truly  so 
called. 

Again,  the  wisdom  of  the  world  thinks  to  have 
relieved  itself  of  a  great  burden,  in  throwing  off 
the  impositions  of  priestcraft.  So  indignantly 
does  it  resent  the  waste  of  time  spent  for  honor- 
ing the  Lord,  that  it  will  not  yield  him  one  day 
in  seven.  In  most  parts  of  our  country,  stages 
and  steam-boats  make  no  distinction  between 
the  days  of  the  week ;  and  worldly  business  and 
recreations  are  as  rife  on  the  Lord's  day,  as  on 
others. 

So  in  fancied  freedom,  men  smile  at  the  tithed 
dupes  of  other  days,  and  at  those  who  voluntarily 
tax  themselves  for  the  support  of  the  gospel.  A 
scanty  portion  of  the  support  allotted  to  the 
Levites  is  allowed  even  to  the  teachers  of  litera- 


17 

ture  and  science.  Let  us  just  glance  at  the 
evils  we  are  suffering  for  departing  so  widely 
from  the  spirit  of  the  social  institutions,  which 
God  once  granted  to  his  people. 

The  average  duration  of  human  life  among 
the  Israelites,  seems  to  have  been  reckoned  at 
about  seventy  years  :  (Ps.  xc.  10. )•  With  us  it 
is  only  about  half  that  sum,  or  something  less. 
Their  diseases  were  few  and  simple ;  such  as 
hardly  required  a  distinct  profession  for  their 
cure.  With  us  they  have  been  multiplied  and 
aggravated  with  fearful  rapidity;  notwithstand- 
ing the  expense  of  money  and  talent,  at  which 
about  a  third  part  of  our  educated  men  are  set 
apart  to  study  their  origin  and  remedies.  They 
who  land  on  our  shores  from  foreign  countries, 
speak  with  surprise  of  the  sickly  forms,  which 
every  where  meet  them,  so  different  from  the  i. 
healthy  countenances  common  in  Europe.  I 
am  told,  that  Dr.  Jackson,  in  a  recent  public 
lecture  to  the  citizens  of  Boston,  adverted  to  this 
fact  in  proof  of  the  bad  quality  of  the  water  of 
our  cities.  But  I  believe,  that  "  water  "  is  only 
one  article  among  many,  in  which  we  have  for- 
feited the  divine  blessing,  by  being  wise  in  our 
own  conceits.  (Ex.  xxiii.  25.)  The  superiority 
of  the  German  students  to  our  own,  in  uniting 


18 

intense  study  with  vigorous  health,  is  well 
known. 

Again,  the  mortality  among  our  young  chil- 
dren vastly  exceeds  what  takes  place  among  the 
young  of  any  of  the  more  perfectly  organized 
animals.  They  have  instinct  alone  for  their 
guide ;  and  following  it  simply,  fulfil  the  end  of 
their  being.  It  is  derogatory  to  the  divine  good- 
ness, to  suppose,  that  man  may  not  generally  fill 
the  number  of  his  days  indicated  by  his  organi- 
zation, as  well  as  the  inferior  animals.  But 
man,  in  addition  to  instinct,  has  for  guides, 
reason,  experience,  the  word  of  God.  These 
teach  him,  that  he  was  created  for  nobler  ends, 
than  to  lay  up  wealth,  as  life's  supreme  good. 
If  he  will  not  listen  to  the  admonition,  he  must 
suflfer  loss  in  the  very  good  at  which  he  so 
eagerly  grasps. 

A  case  now  in  my  eye,  though  an  extreme 
one,  still  represents  too  justly  the  case  of  our 
country  at  large.  A  farmer  cultivated  his  farm 
like  one  resolved  to  make  the  most  of  it.  He  was 
esteemed  as  a  thrifty  man.  Besides  a  fine  stock 
of  cattle,  he  had  money  to  some  considerable 
amount,  accumulated  by  his  own  industry,  at 
interest.  But  he  had  no  thoughts  for  the  other 
world,  or  even  for  the  more  ennobling  concerns 


of  this.     His  Sabbaths  were  spebr^in  looking  ^ 

after  the   business  of  his   farm.     He  has  now^T***^ 


been  for  several  years  the  tenant  of  a  retreatTfo? 
the  insane.  I  have  no  doubt,  that  his  insanity 
was  contracted  by  his  unbending  concentration 
of  thought  upon  one  grovelling  pursuit :  and 
that,  had  his  Sabbaths  been  devoted  to  Him  who 
claims  them  as. his  own,  and  had  the  instruction 
of  his  children  and  the  operations  of  evangelical 
benevolence  duly  entered  into  his  every  day 
calculations,  he  might  now  have  been  in  the  full 
enjoyment  of  all  his  powers. 


BODY  AND  SOUL. 
No.  III. 

Sana  mens  in  corpora  sane. 

If  there  was  in  the  institutions  of  Moses  a 
divine  wisdom,  which  aimed  at  a  sound  body  as 
essentially  requisite  in  order  to  the  sound  mind, 
we  need  not  go  far  to  find  a  sufficient  reason  for 
some  obvious  defects  in  the  religious  character 
of  our  age,  and  especially  of  our  country.  Ob- 
scurely as  truths  were  revealed  under  the  ancient 


20 

dispensation,  there  appears  an  evenness  and  a 
completeness  in  the  character  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment saints,  for  which  at  the  present  day  we 
might  long  seek  in  vain.'*'  Among  Christians, 
what  sectarian  rancor  do  we  witness  !  what  irri- 
tability of  temper !  what  transient  heats  and 
long  languors  in  religious  zeal !  The  remedies 
most  urgently  recommended  are,  intenser  prayer, 
stricter  keeping  of  the  heart,  more  self-distrust, 
greater  activity  in  the  service  of  God  and  men's 
souls,  and  others  of  like  character.  All  these 
things  ought  to  be  done :  but  while  some  other 
things  are  left  quite  undone,  I  have  no  expecta- 
tion of  seeing  the  end  attained.  I  hold,  that  the 
bodies  of  Christians  have  become  so  unfit  resi- 
dences of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  we  need  seek  no 
stronger  reason,  why  his  influences  are  so  feeble 
and  variable  there — so  hardly  distinguishable 
from  animal  heats  and  irregularities. 

It  is  eminently  a  time,  when  we  may  complain, 
*'  O  the  hope  of  Israel,  the  Saviour  thereof  in 
time  of  trouble,  why  shouldest  thou  be  as  a 
stranger  in  the  land,  and   as  a  wayfaring  man 

*  If  there  is  any  thing  in  the  church  at  this  time  in 
which  there  is  a  greater  deficiency  than  in  any  other,  it  is 
this,  that  there  is  so  little  completeness  of  Christian 
character. — Memoir  of  Anna  Jane  Linnard^p.  87. 


21 

^"  that  turneth  aside  to  tarry  for  a  night  ?  Why 
shouldest  thou  be  as  a  man  astonied,  as  a  mighty 
man  that  cannot  save  ?  " — Jer.  xiv.  8,  9.  It  is 
pretty  evident,  that  the  means  hitherto  chiefly 
relied  on  for  sustaining  religion  in  the  church, 
are  losing  their  efficacy.  Protracted  meetings, 
and  the  kindred  system  of  operations,  have  served 
their  turn  and  done  good.  True,  their  enemies 
have  objected,  that  religion  was  represented  as 
a  periodical  or  occasional  thing,  rather  than  as 
a  steadily  governing  principle.  I  hold  the  ob- 
jection about  as  reasonable,  as  to  maintain,  that 
a  dead  body  is  better  than  a  living  one,  the 
latter  being  subject  to  feverish  heats  and  convul- 
sive throes.  Still,  we  should  not  rest  content 
with  entertaining  the  Saviour  "  as  a  stranger  in 
the  land,  and  as  a  wayfaring  man  that  turneth 
aside  to  tarry  for  a  night."  And  he  now  seems 
warning  us  to  prepare  for  his  steady  abiding 
with  us,  or  to  calculate  on  his  utter  withdrawal. 
Now  I  firmly  believe,  that  the  point,  to  which 
the  attention  of  Christians  needs  most  particu- 
larly to  be  directed,  is  the  study  of  the  elements 
of  physiology,  and  the  influence  of  the  body  on 
the  mind.  I  expect  only  a  puny,  inefficient,  in- 
constant race  of  Christians,  where  the  soil  is 
cultivated  so  little  on  scientific  principles,  and 

3 


22 

such  food  is  eaten  as  such  a  soil  produces.  Few 
seem  to  trace  intemperate  sallies  of  passion, 
blunted  senses  which  require  to  be  taught  once 
and  again  the  first  principles  of  the  oracles  of 
God,  feverish  contentions  about  hair-breadth 
varieties  of  opinion  or  mere  verbal  differences, 
to  a  physical  cause.  Few,  I  believe,  justly  esti- 
mate, how  much  may  be  traced  to  stomachs 
long  irritated  by  ill-digestible  materials,  where, 
to  keep  down  acid  fermentations,  resort  has  long 
been  had  to  tea,  coffee,  tobacco,  brandy,  opium, 
cayenne  or  hot  drops,  according  to  the  individ- 
ual's fancy. 

Much  has  been  said  of  ardent  spirit  as  the 
great  source  of  vice  and  misery :  and  I  believe, 
it  has  not  been  condemned  too  utterly.  At  the 
same  time,  to  banish  alcohol  entirely,  both  in  the 
form  of  distilled  and  fermented  liquors,  and  there 
stop,  I  should  consider  an  achievement  about 
as  important,  as  to  dip  a  bucket  of  water  out  of 
Charles  river,  when  our  object  was  to  dry  up  the 
stream.  It  is  not  the  single  article  that  is  work- 
ing so  much  mischief;  it  is  a  thousand.  Let 
any  one  judge  for  himself,  after  feeding  awhile 
on  the  sponge-balls  sold  from  our  bakeries ;  or 
after  looking  into  some  pf  the  total  abstinence 
families  who   have  lived  several  years  on  the 


23 

produce  of  some  of  our  farms,  which  have  been 
well  forced  ipto  good  liking  by  the  rank  mate- 
rials carted  out  from  the  city,  and  not  well 
tempered  with  lime,  or  other  corrective.  I  fully 
believe,  that  much  of  the  milk  so  produced  for 
the  market,  is  a  more  pernicious  beverage  than 
pure  brandy  and  water.  But  perhaps  it  is  unfair 
to  specify  any  instances,  when  there  are  so 
many,  too  numerous  to  mention,  equally  de- 
serving. 

As  things  are,  the  temperance  cause  labors 
under  a  vast  disadvantage.  Indeed,  I  know, 
that  some  of  its  earliest  and  warmest  friends, 
men  too  of  curious  observation,  have  lately  ex- 
pressed the  opinion,  that  in  some  of  our  cities 
the  total  abstinence  men  suffer  more  than  the 
moderate  drinkers.  I  can  easily  believe  the 
fact  possible.  I  can  easily  believe  that  the  re- 
moval of  one  item  from  such  a  frightful  round 
of  unsuspected  evils,  would  produce  disarrange- 
ment and  dissension,  worse,  apparently  (at  least) 
than  the  forced  quiet  kept  up  before;  even  if 
this  should  not  be  restored  by  worse  means  than 
that  for  which  they  were  substituted. 

By  the  researches  of  the  wise  men  of  this 
world,  God  is  again  revealing  with  fresh  light 
the  truth  so  constantly  implied  in  ancient  reve- 


24 

lation,  that  body  and  soul  are  intimately  united, 
and  that  it  is  in  vain  to  expect  one  worthily  to 
reflect  the  image  of  its  Maker,  while  the  culti- 
vation of  the  other  is  sadly  neglected.  The 
church  must  no  longer  neglect  a  truth  so  im- 
portant. This  neglect  has  already  cost  her  the 
loss  of  too  many  of  her  brightest  ornaments  and 
ablest  defenders  in  the  midst  of  their  usefulness. 
It  is  vain  under  such  loss  to  talk  of  the  mys- 
teries of  Providence.  There  is  no  mystery  about 
the  matter,  except  so  far  as  it  is  mysterious  how 
the  infatuation  of  men  takes  place  under  the 
providence  of  God.  The  plain  truth  is,  (enough 
for  us  to  know,)  through  careless  ignorance  or 
wilful  obstinacy,  we  have  been  living  in  flagrant 
violation  of  laws  open  to  our  investigation  in  the 
works  of  nature,  and  not  obscurely  intimated 
(many  of  them)  in  the  word  of  God  ;  and  we 
have  only  suffered  the  penalty  consequent  on 
such  transgression.  We  have  talked  enough 
of  the  depressed  state  of  religion,  the  increase  of 
vice,  error  and  infidelity,  the  activity  of  the 
agents  of  darkness,  and  the  need  of  God's  inter- 
posing Spirit.  I  hope  tfie  heart-searchings  and 
the  prayers  of  the  closet  have  corresponded.  If 
so,  then  I  expect  also  to  see  Christians  generally 
making  it  a  matter   of  conscience  to  inquire. 


25 

how  they  shall  render  their  bodies  more  fit 
temples  for  the  Holy  Spirit's  residence ;  to 
make  an  effort  to  provide  themselves  with  plain 
and  wholesome  food ;  and  to  encounter  the  self- 
denial  of  bringing  stomachs  accustomed  to  a 
most  vicious  mode  of  living  to  crave  no  other 
stimulus.  I  forbear  to  enter  into  detail  on  these 
and  kindred  points  ;  because  my  end  is  better 
answered,  if  the  reader  is  sufficiently  convinced 
of  the  importance  of  the  views  I  have  suggested, 
to  subscribe  for  the  Moral  Reformer,  a  work  too 
cheap,  too  good  in  its  design  (as  I  am  confident 
it  will  be  in  its  execution)  to  be  a  stranger  in 
any  Christian  family. 


BODY  AND  SOUL. 

No.  IV. 

I  HAVE  before  remarked,  how  an  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  intimaie  connection  between 
body  and  soul — of  the  necessity  of  thoroughly 
cultivating  each  in  order  to  the  perfection  of  the 
other — pervades  the  Mosaic  institutions.     After 

3* 


26 

long  neglect,  the  principle  is  again  attracting 
the  attention  of  thinking  men.  Like  all  new 
thoughts  especially,  it  is  liable  to  be  extrava- 
gantly and  erroneously  applied.  A  sound  mind, 
in  the  apostolic  sense,  is  eminently  needed  here. 
I  hope,  it  is  not  anti-spiritual  to  say,  that  the 
sound  mind  is  so  hardly  to  be  expected  apart 
from  the  sound  body,  that  we  may  well  suspect 
the  judgment  of  those,  who  think  to  set  off  the 
celestial  genius  of  their  idol,  by  contrasting  it 
with  its  feeble,  trembling  bodily  frame.  I  fear,, 
we  shall  too  generally  find  in  such  geniuses,  a  few 
prominent  sparkling  traits  of  mind,  with  a  sad 
want  of  harmonious  balance  between  its  powers. 
1  hail  the  progress  of  phrenology,  so  far  at 
least  as  recognizing  the  principle  in  question; 
and  this  without  at  all  committing  myself  to 
maintain,  that  the  science  is  as  sure  or  as  prac- 
tical, as  its  decided  votaries  profess.  I  find  no 
objection  to  its  truth  in  the  fact,  that  the  ac- 
knowledged leaders  of  the  public  mind  have 
generally  been  disposed  to  treat  it  with  ridicule 
and  contempt.  If  it  be  really  founded  in  truth, 
and  more  than  a  very  little  in  advance  of 
thoughts  previously  admitted,  nothing  else  was 
to  be  expected,  judging  from  all  past  history. 
The  fame  of  Columbus  and  Galileo  is  purchased 


27 

at  the  cost  of  first  being  treated  as  a  madman  or 
driveler. 

If  the  truth  of  phrenology  should  come  to  be 
generally  acknowledged,  no  doubt,  it  will  share 
the  fate  of  astronomy  and  geology,  in  being 
pressed  into  the  service  of  irreligion  :  nor  need 
we  doubt,  that  the  attempt  will  again  be  worse 
than  a  failure.  Indeed  while  yet  to  illustrate 
religion  by  the  light  of  phrenology  has  hardly 
been  thought  of,  its  truth  being  admitted  seems 
to  afford  one  of  the  best  vindications  of  two  of 
the  doctrines,  which  the  wisdom  of  the  world 
has  most  labored  to  philosophize  out  of  the 
Bible.  First,  it  entirely  overturns  the  Arminian 
notions  of  moral  agency,  as  if  this  implied  con- 
tingency, absence  of  bias,  a  self-determining 
power  of  the  will — as  if  the  voluntary  acts  of 
free  agents  could  not  be  calculated  on  with 
moral  certainty.  Again,  phrenology  falls  in 
completely  with  what  seems  to  be  implied  in  the 
apostle's  reasoning,  1  Cor.  xv.,  as  well  as  other 
Scriptures ;  namely,  that  man  was  originally 
created  body  and  soul,  each  being  essential  to 
perfect  man;  that  "immortality  was  the  condi- 
5tion  of  creation,  and  death  came  in  as  a  surprise 
upon  nature;"*  and  that  the  redemption  of 
•  Sherlock. 


28 

Christ  is  not  perfect,  till  man  be  restored  to  im- 
mortality of  both  body  and  soul.  I  shall  in  this 
number  use  the  language  of  phrenology.  It  will 
save  circumlocution,  and  render  the  sense 
plainer  and  more  satisfactory  to  one  class  of 
readers:  while  they  who  recognize  only  the 
general  principle  of  the  sound  mind  and  the 
sound  body  contributing  each  to  either,  will  be 
able,  I  hope,  to  change  the  language,  and  find 
no  substantial  fault  of  argument. 

Nothing  seems  at  present  better  established, 
than  that  religion  thrives  best  left  to  its  own 
energies,  unhampered  by  the  professed  protec- 
tion of  state  establishments.  A  plausible  objec- 
tion may  hence  be  derived  against  the  ecclesi- 
astical constitution  of  the  Hebrews.  But  we  are 
hardly  driven  to  the  necessity  of  maintaining, 
that  God  committed  the  superintendence  of 
religion  among  them  to  a  privileged  order,  pur- 
posely to  show,  by  preserving  a  goodly  religious 
influence  through  a  series  of  ages,  that  there 
was  a  superior  unseen  power  at  work,  reversing 
the  results,  which  have  uniformly  come  forth, 
wherever  human  wisdom  has  committed  a  gen- 
eral interest  to  the  like  keeping.  As  with  other 
general  interests,  so  with  religion,  there  seems 
to  be  a  stage  in  the  progress  of  society,  before 


29 


which,  purely  republican  principlesN^^qP^reS-vfr  L 
ceed ;    and   after   which,   aristocracy  antt*-«Qa^ 
nopoly  invariably  work  the  like  ill  effects. 

Now,  if  man  is  furnished  with  an  organ  of 
Veneration,  to  be  cultivated  in  common  and  in 
harmony  with  others ;  before  spiritual  views  of 
God  come  to  be  generally  and  strongly  appre- 
hended, other  means  for  the  exercise  of  venera- 
tion seem  requisite.  Philosophers,  nay.  Chris- 
tian doctors,  have  accordingly  justified  the 
imposition  of  image-worship  on  the  populace. 
With  more  wisdom,  God,  as  a  temporary  expe- 
dient, and  during  the  early  development  of 
human  thought,  established  a  splendid  ritual, 
and  holy  priesthood.  So  too,  in  detesting  the 
impositions  almost  every  where  practised  on  the 
multitude  by  the  splendor  of  royalty  and  nobility, 
we  ought  not  to  overlook  the  consideration,  that 
where  God  is  not  spiritually  apprehended,  the 
welfare  of  man  requires  some  object  for  the 
exercise  of  his  Veneration  :  and  so  far  at  least, 
these  pageants  may  serve  a  good  purpose. 

Here  comes  in  a  consideration  peculiarly  in- 
teresting to  our  countrymen.  From  among'  us 
the  habit  of  venerating  an  institution  for  its  an- 
tiquity or  unknown  origin,  or  an  order  of  men 
as   invested   with  some  mysterious  science  or 


30 

divine  right,  has  entirely  disappeared ;  unless 
some  shreds  of  it  still  hang  around  medical 
science  :  and  these  are  fast  disappearing  before 
the  inquiring  spirit  of  the  age,  which  is  hasten- 
ing to  the  conclusion,  that  the  essential  princi- 
ples, on  which  health  depends,  are  few  and 
intelligible  to  the  mind  generally  enlightened ; 
and  that  so  far  as  cures  are  wrought  by  medical 
skill  beyond  the  patient's  comprehension,  the 
physician  was  not  very  wide  from  the  truth,  who 
defined  his  art  to  be  "  the  art  of  amusing  the 
patient  till  nature  works  a  cure."  It  is  said, 
that  the  heads  of  Americans  generally  exhibit 
the  organ  of  Veneration  less  than  in  almost  any 
other  people.  Now,  if  the  mental  faculty  is 
really  connected,  as  here  supposed,  with  physical 
organization,  its  disuse  must  tend  directly  to 
the  deterioration  of  the  whole  physical  frame, 
since,  for  the  perfection  of  each  part,  every 
other  must  be  duly  exercised.  Here  may  be 
one  cause  of  our  physical  ills  adverted  to  in  a 
former  number.  And  here  too  we  see  in  a  new 
light  why,  all  inferior  objects  of  veneration 
having  lost  their  power,  we  need  especially  the 
power  of  genuine  religion  to  save  us  both  body 
and  soul. 

There  is  apparently  at  least  a  great  difficulty 


31 

in  reconciling  peace  principles,  as  often  taught, 
with  the  divine  commission  given  to  the  Israelites 
to  exterminate  the  nations  of  Canaan.  Let  us 
try  to  hope  for  the  universal  reign  of  peace  and 
pacific  principles,  without  leaving  a  shadow  of 
suspicion  on  any  thing  which  God  has  enjoined. 
If  Combativeness  and  Destructiveness  are  essen- 
tial parts  of  the  human  constitution,  they  too 
should  be  exercised  in  their  own  turn  and  pro- 
portion. They  had  been  restrained  by  the 
bondage  in  Egypt.  It  might  have  been  nec- 
essary to  call  them  into  exercise,  to  give  edge  to 
the  mind,  and  decision  to  the  character  of  the 
people ;  controlling  their  exercise  at  the  same 
time  by  Conscientiousness  and  Benevolence. 
Accordingly,  though  commissioned  to  combat 
and  destroy,  they  were  expressly  informed,  that 
they  were  used  as  instruments  in  the  hands  of  a 
just  God  to  exterminate  the  devoted  nations  for 
their  abominable  iniquities  ;  and  warned,  that 
themselves  should  suffer  the  like,  if  they  fell  into 
the  like  practices;  while  a  promise  was  given, 
that  in  the  seed  planted  in  the  place  of  the  ex- 
tirpated race,  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  should 
be  blessed. 

At  the  period  of  the  reformation,  the  world 
was  in  a  state  to  afford  exercise  to  Combative- 


32 

ness  and  Destriictiveness  in  another  and  nobler 
way,  than  through  feats  of  physical  courage. 
There  were  enormities  of  doctrine  and  abuses 
of  practice  to  be  assailed  and  overcome  by  argu- 
ment and  ridicule.  Combativeness  and  De- 
structiveness  were  called  into  action  together 
with  the  intellectual  and  moral  faculties.  The 
result  was  an  awakening  of  thought — a  devel- 
opment of  intellectual  vigor — such  as  the  world 
had  not  witnessed  before. 

If  there  is  any  justness  in  the  views  now 
presented,  the  true  way  to  establish  universal 
and  perpetual  peace,  is  not  to  deny  the  legitimacy 
of  the  faculties,  which  war  calls  into  exercise, 
but  to  provide  for  their  activity  in  a  way  more 
accordant  with  the  improved  condition  of  the 
world.  The  work  of  reform  is  not  completed. 
Errors  still  swarm,  which  need  to  be  refuted. 
There  are  still  faults  abundant  in  our  systems 
of  education,  and  in  our  social  institutions, 
which  require  a  master's  correction,  or  we 
should  not  be  so  far  behind  the  ancient  people 
of  God,  in  physical  vigor,  and  in  completeness 
of  religious  character.  To  search  out  and  put 
down  the  immediate  and  remote  causes  of  evils 
so  obvious  and  so  oppressive,  will  afford  ample 
range  for  all  lawful  gratification  of  the  propensi- 


33 

ties  to  combat  and  to  destroy,  while  love  to  God 
and  good-will  towards  man  shall  be  more  vigor- 
ous, for  the  harmony  with  which  faculties  so 
often  set  in  opposition,  can  now  act  together. 


BODY  AND  SOUL. 

No.  V. 

I  DO  not  think  that  a  thorough  physical 
education  would  require  of  students  a  very  great 
proportion  of  time  for  bodily  exercise.  On  the 
contrary,  I  believe  that  a  good  acquaintance 
with  the  various  agents  affecting  our  health,  and 
a  practical  regard  to  the  corresponding  laws, 
would  save  many  hours  spent  in  bodily  exercise, 
required  not  by  the  necessity  of  our  constitution, 
but  as  the  penalty  of  infringing  its  laws  in  the 
misuse  of  the  stomach,  brain,  skin,  and  other 
organs.  I  believe  that  the  German  students 
secure  their  better  health  with  less  time  spent  in 
exercise,  than  ours  generally  employ.  I  might 
urge  then  the  importance  of  physical  education 
on  the  very  ground  of  redeeming  more  time  for 

4 


34 

intellectual  pursuits ;  though  I  can  hardly  give 
him  credit  for  the  art  of  thinking,  who  has  never 
found  his  best  intellectual  efforts  to  have  been 
made  on  days,  when  ten  or  twelve  hours  were 
spent  in  bodily  labor,  and  an  hour  employed  in 
the  evening  to  put  into  form  the  result  of  the 
day's  thoughts. 

In  making  education  practical,  there  is  no 
need  of  dispensing  with  intense  or  abstract 
thinking — no  need  of  vindicating  the  thought- 
saving  scheme,  on  which  it  has  become  so  fash- 
ionable to  compose  school  books.  We  need  not 
rob  Greek,  Latin  and  Mathematics  of  their  due 
importance,  in  requiring  that  into  our  systems  of 
education  should  enter  some  instruction  of  the 
young  into  the  constitution  of  their  own  bodies, 
and  the  agents  affecting  them.  It  is  shameful 
to  fill  the  heads  of  youth  with  the  knowledge  of 
names,  perhaps  in  half  a  dozen  different  lan- 
guages, while  they  are  left  profoundly  ignorant 
of  almost  all  the  things  around  them.  A  large 
majority  probably  of  those  among  us  who  are 
supposed  to  have  received  a  finished  education, 
know  how  to  distinguish  some  five  or  six  of  the 
most  common  rocks ;  about  twice  that  number 
of  our  common  birds  ;  know  as  much  of  the 
properties  of  plants,  as  suffices  not  to  substitute 


35 

ivy  or  henbane  for  any  of  the  garden  esculents  ; 
and  as  little  of  the  Linnaean  system  of  classifi- 
cation as  they  do  of  the  geography  of  Saturn  ; 
while  their  knowledge  of  other  things  corres- 
ponds. Or,  if  this  is  an  account  of  what  has 
been,  rather  than  what  is,  the  change  is  quite 
recent,  and  very  imperfectly  effected. 

A  system  of  education  claiming  the  name  of 
liberal,  ought  to  embrace  such  instruction  in 
the  elements  of  physiology,  in  the  Materia 
Medica  too,  especially  the  botanic  department, 
as  to  qualify  each  to  practice  la  plus  salutaire 
des  medecineSj  cells  qui  s'  attache  plus  a  prevenir 
les  maux  qv!  a  les  guerir ;  and  even  to  know 
how  to  exercise  some  discrimination  on  emer- 
gencies, when  professional  advice  cannot  be 
seasonably  called.  The  knowledge  I  would  re- 
commend, tends  neither  to  undervalue  more 
profound  professional  skill,  nor  to  dispense  with 
the  necessity  of  professional  advisers  ;  any  more 
than  the  Protestant  doctrine  of  the  right  of 
private  judgment  supersedes  the  necessity  of 
extraordinary  biblical  research,  or  of  the  Chris- 
tian ministry.  But  it  is  desirable  that  every 
one  should  be  able  to  decide,  when  to  call  in 
medical  advice  is  necessary,  and  then  to  listen 
to  it  like  a  rational  being.     The  liberal-minded 


36 

and  benevolent  physician  would  feel  a  satisfac- 
tion in  administering  to  such  patients,  superior 
to  that  of  being  blindly  reverenced  for  the  exer- 
cise of  some  mysterious,  incomprehensible  art ; 
as  the  evangelical  pastor  finds  a  purer  pleasure 
in  enlightening  and  guiding  souls  inquiring  the 
way  of  salvation,  than  the  Romish  priest  can 
know  in  exacting  a  surrender  of  reason  and 
conscience,  from  the  dupes,  who,  content  with 
the  opus  operatunij  have  no  general  principles 
for  their  direction  in  cases  where  specific  direc- 
tions from  their  superior  are  wanting.  Protes- 
tants as  we  boast  to  be,  there  is  too  much  popery 
among  us,  in  regard  to  the  body  at  least.  Let 
us  aim  to  be  Protestants  in  regard  to  this  also. 
I  mean,  as  we  expect  every  Christian  to  have 
an  enlightened  conscience  for  a  sufficient  guide 
in  all  ordinary  circumstances,  and  to  have  his 
understanding  in  difficulties  enlightened,  not 
dictated  to,  by  his  pastor  ;  as  we  expect  him  to 
exercise  repentance  as  a  free,  intelligible  act, 
and  not  to  do  a  penance,  for  which  he  can  give 
no  more  rational  account  than  that  Father  Con- 
fessor so  prescribes  ;  so,  unless  the  body  with  its 
functions  is  more  difficult  to  comprehend  than 
the  soul,  let  us  aim  to  make  such  instruction 
general,   that    men    shall    not    continually  err 


37 

grossly  in  diet  and  regimen,  or  be  at  a  nonplus 
under  every  little  ailment ;  that  on  the  great 
and  rare  occasions  when  that  knowledge  which 
few  can  possess  is  really  necessary,  they  may 
not  submit  to  it  so  blindly,  that  the  result  is 
pretty  sure  to  be  life  or  death,  as  Veneration  and 
Hope,  or  as  Cautiousness  is  most  active. 

I  know  that  good  books  and  good  professors 
are  extremely  scarce  for  the  instruction  I  am 
recommending ;  just  because  public  sentiment 
has  been  so  silent  as  to  demanding  any  thing  of 
the  kind.  Let  its  tone  change,  and  the  deside- 
ratum will  soon  be  supplied.  Our  Saviour  acted 
on  the  principle  of  doing  good  to  the  bodies  of 
men,  to  win  the  way  for  advice  as  to  their  souls. 
Though  miracles  have  ceased,  there  is  a  vast 
field  for  inquiry  into  the  art  of  preserving 
health,  so  unoccupied,  nor  yet  requiring  very 
much  time  for  coming  to  some  satisfactory 
results,  that  a  new  generation  of  ministers  may 
fairly  resolve  on  qualifying  themselves  for  ren- 
dering such  advice  to  their  people,  as,  for  pre- 
paring the  way  for  religious  instruction,  and  as 
a  pledge  of  seeking  their  good, — shall  be  next 
to  the  power  of  working  miracles. 
4* 


38 


AN  APPEAL 

TO    THE    MEMBERS    OF   THE    THREE    LEARNED 
PROFESSIONS. 

It  is  in  vain  to  attempt  concealing  that  there 
is  at  work  a  spirit  of  ultraism,  radicalism,  anti- 
ism,  and  infidelity,  which  is  aiming  to  bring 
your  professions  into  discredit,  as  the  threefold 
band  which  binds  in  slavery  the  human  mind, 
and  stays  the  progress  of  general  improvefnent. 
Men  so  affected  argue  thus  :  The  legal  profes- 
sion, by  its  education  and  constitution,  is  made 
to  flourish  best  in  a  quarrelsome  community. 
Legislation  very  much,  and  jurisprudence  alto- 
gether, fall  into  the  hands  of  men,  whose 
interest  it  is  to  render  law  complicated  and 
obscure,  and  entangle  people  in  difficulties. 
The  medical  profession  likewise  is  not  consti- 
tuted to  teach  people  the  art  of  preserving 
health,  but  to  take  advantage  of  the  errors  com- 
mitted through  ignorance  of  such  art.  And 
though  the  Reformation  did  away  the  former 


39 

constitution,  by  which  the  priests  were  made 
inevitably  to  "  eat  up  the  sin  of  the  people,  and 
set  their  heart  on  their  iniquity,"  [connive  at  the 
vices,  which  were  filling  their  own  coffers,]  yet 
the  men,  whose  mode  of  arguing  we  are  review- 
ing, choose  to  overlook  this  fact,  and  fix  atten- 
tion rather  on  another,  namely,  that  the  three 
professions  are  educated  at  the  same  colleges, 
and  are  apparently  firmly  united  in  maintaining 
each  other's  acknowledged  rights.  Hence  the 
indiscriminate  assault  upon  the  whole. 

Now  whatever  qualifying  considerations  men 
of  discrimination  may  oppose  to  the  sweeping 
conclusion,  we  can  hardly  show,  that  there  is 
not  truth  enough  in  the  reasoning,  to  render  it 
a  powerful  engine  with  a  people  so  restlessly 
inquisitive,  so  given  to  change,  as  ours.  I 
would  propose  the  means  of  averting  the  ca- 
lamity which  threatens.  My  proposal  is  briefly 
this,  not  to  await  the  outbreaking  of  the  tempest, 
but  now,  while  you  can  do  it  with  credit,  to 
give  your  hearty  concurrence  to  doing  away  the 
constitution  of  things,  on  which  the  objections 
are  raised,  and  introducing  such  a  change,  that 
people  shall  pay  for  knowledge,  rather  than  be 
taxed  for  ignorance. 

I  will  give  a  specimen  of  the  evils  requiring 


40 

correction.  It  was  lately  asked  of  a  lawyer  in 
one  of  the  principal  manufacturing  towns  of 
New  England,  how  many  of  his  profession 
would  be  wanted  in  his  town,  if  they  acted  on 
evangelical  principles  ?  ('^  Blessed  are  the 
peacemakers.")  He  answered  Jive.  The  ex- 
isting number  is  about  twenty-five.  What  a 
waste  of  talent,  just  because  we  do  not  make  it 
the  interest  of  our  lawyers  to  be  peacemakers ! 
while  we  are  daily  assailed  with  the  cry  of  the 
want  of  educated  teachers  at  the  West. 

I  will  give  an  instance  of  what  I  mean  by 
having  people  pay  for  knowledge,  rather  than 
be  taxed  for  ignorance.  Suppose  the  city  of 
Boston  should  employ  two  physicians  (more  if 
necessary)  to  each  Ward,  to  be  paid  competent 
salaries  for  administering  to  all  the  sickness, 
more  or  less,  within  their  respective  Wards,  with 
one  gener^-l  superintendent.  These  would  keep 
their  eyes  wide  open,  to  watch  for  disease  in  its 
causes.  They  would  watch  the  bakers,  whether 
they  were  using  bad  flour,  or  mixing  pernicious 
articles  with  their  bread.  They  would  watch 
the  market  in  all  its  departments.  They  would 
lecture  people  publicly  on  the  means  of  preserv- 
ing health.  They  would  be  instant  in  season  and 
out  of  season,  to  enforce  these  means.    Thus 


41 

nine-tenths  of  the  existing  sickness  would  be 
prevented.  For  it  is  acknowledged,  that  thus 
much  of  our  diseases,  at  least,  arises  from  violat- 
ing the  laws  of  our  being;  and  people  could 
much  better  pay  the  same  sum  for  instruction  in 
these  laws,  than  as  a  penalty  for  their  violation. 

Such  a  change  would  be  the  best  of  all  de- 
fences against  quackery.  We  have  tried  what 
legislation,  and  argument,  and  ridicule  could  do, 
under  the  present  constitution  of  things.  But 
so  easy  is  it  in  this  country  to  throw  odium  upon 
whatever  looks  like  monopoly,  chartered  rights, 
and  exclusive  privileges,  that  the  very  force, 
which  has  been  arrayed  in  defence  of  the  regular 
practice,  bids  fair  to  recoil  on  the  same  with 
destructive  force,  for  its  anti-republican  aspect. 
Let  scientific  physicians  concur  to  bring  about 
such  a  change,  that  people  shall  pay  for  health, 
and  not  for  sickness — let  them  thus  do  away  all 
cause  for  suspicion,  that  they  are  jealous  of  real 
improvements  in  medicine,  and  there  will  remain 
little  cause  of  complaint,  that  men  of  influence 
countenance  unscientific  pretenders. 

There  is  one  aspect  of  the  community,  which 
seems  to  me  to  demand  the  serious  consideration 
of  medical  practitioners,  and  those  looking  for- 
ward to  the  profession.     In  regard  to  temper- 


42 

ance,  society  is  separating  into  two  divisions. 
On  the  one  hand  are  those,  who  mean  to  carry 
out  the  principle  of  being  temperate  in  all 
things  ;  who  consider,  that  God  in  his  word  has 
repeatedly  promised  health  and  long  life  as  the 
rewards  of  keeping  the  whole  of  his  law ;  who 
are  making  it  a  matter  of  conscience  to  inquire, 
how  we  have  violated,  his  law,  moral  or  physiolo- 
gical, that  the  average  number  of  our  days  is 
only  about  half  that  granted  to  the  ancient 
Israelites ;  who  will  not  be  satisfied,  till  they 
have  discovered  the  error  and  corrected  it.  On 
the  other  hand  is  the  reckless  portion  of  the 
community,  who  mean  to  give  the  reins  to  ap- 
petite ;  and  when  the  constitution  runs  down, 
wish  to  wind  it  up,  as  quick  as  possible,  and 
give  the  reins  to  appetite  again.  This  class  are 
fast  falling  into  the  Thomsonian  practice,  as  the 
best  of  any  thing  for  their  purpose.  Neither  of 
these  classes  affords  much  encouragement  to 
those,  who  are  anticipating  to  practice  medicine 
according  to  the  present  system.  That  this 
state  of  things  is  so  little  regarded  at  the  fountain 
heads  of  lore  and  wisdom,  I  can  only  resolve 
into  the  general  fact,  that  they  have  ever  been 
the  last  practically  to  regard  changes  well  un- 
derstood every  where  else.     But  it  really  seems 


to  me,  as  if  our  medical  profes%Ai^re  acting' Oj^  \ 
very  much  like  the  hen,  when  sh^  hides  her^^- *,     ^ 
head,  and  seems  to  think  herself  secttre  ir6m'*'^  ^^^IX^ 
danger. 

Let  a  beginning  be  made  (as  I  have  instanced 
above)  of  substituting  the  purchase  of  knowledge 
for  the  tax  of  ignorance,  and  its  advantages 
would  soon  become  so  apparent  as  best  for  all 
concerned,  that  I  think  the  principle  would  soon 
be  carried  into  every  department,  where  it  is  yet 
wanted.  It  would  so  increase  the  love  of  know- 
ledge, and  the  means  of  purchasing  it,  as  to 
increase,  I  verily  believe,  the  encouragement 
held  out  to  thoroughly  educated  men. 

I  cannot  now  go  into  the  details  of  the  plan  I 
propose ;  but  I  think  I  have  sufficiently  ex- 
plained its  fundamental  principles.  Some  may 
be  disposed  to  smile  at  it,  as  a  pleasing  but  im- 
practicable speculation.  Let  such  reflect  how 
rapidly  in  these  times  public  sentiment  has  been 
revolutionized  on  many  points.  Let  them  reflect 
again,  that  so  changeable  are  all  things  now, 
that  which  was  in  repute  yesterday  being  an 
abomination  to-day,  that  he  who  regards  but  his 
own  comfort,  has  small  inducement  to  trim  his 
sails  to  the  popular  gale,  but  seems  cast  by 
Divine  Providence  on  a  sort  of  necessity,  to  take 


44 

his  stand  firmly  on  what  he  honestly  believes  to 
be  truth  and  right,  and  leave  the  world  to  come 
into  his  views  at  its  leisure  (rather  in  its  haste.) 
Let  the  clergy  especially  consider,  that  they 
have  already  been  so  well  sifted,  (not  thoroughly, 
I  confess,)  that  the  independent  course  now  ex- 
acted of  them  need  cost  very  little  indeed. 

One  word  more.  The  change  now  proposed, 
by  making  it  the  interest  of  lawyers  to  keep 
people  peaceable,  and  of  physicians  to  keep 
them  healthy,  would  not  only  promote  their  own 
quiet  by  screening  them  from  jealousy,  but 
would  render  them  very  acute  for  their  own 
interest  to  discern,  what  system  of  religious 
teaching  best  renders  people  orderly  and  tem- 
perate ;  and  they  would  throw  their  influence 
accordingly.  And  now,  good  reader,  do  you 
not  see  that  all  this  would  be  just  so  much  clear 
gain  to  your  own  denomination  1  I  expect, 
therefore,  that  you  at  least  will  consider  of  my 
proposal,  and  favor  its  adoption. 


45 


A  SECOND  APPEAL 

TO  THE  THREE  LEARNED  PROFESSIONS. 

A  FEW  weeks  since  the  writer  took  the  liberty 
to  address  a  Circular  to  the  presidents  of  most  of 
the  New  England  colleges,  expressing  views 
kindred  to  those  of  his  last  Appeal,  but  in  a 
manner,  which  seemed  to  him  more  proper  for 
private  suggestion,  than  for  publication  at 
present.  He  complained  that  our  social  institu- 
tions and  our  systems  of  education,  were  based 
on  a  practical  denial  of  some  truths,  admitted  by 
Aiost  Christians  to  be  fundamental  principles  of 
revelation  ;  and  urged  the  necessity  of  an  im- 
mediate effort  for  some  changes,  going  to  a  depth, 
which  some  might  stigmatize  as  radicalism. 
He  is  happy  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  an 
answer  from  the  president  of  one  of  our  colleges, 
(second  to  none  for  furnishing  thorough  scholars 
and  practical  men,)  acknowledging  the  necessity 
#f  applying  radicalism  (in  its  legitimate  meaning) 
5 


46 

at  all  the  sources  of  moral  influence,  more  in- 
dustriously than  the  times  have  yet  permitted : 
declaring  the  increasing  interest,  with  which  he 
had  long  revolved  the  subjects  suggested  in  the 
Circular ;  and  the  harmonious  concurrence  of 
the  Corporation  and  Faculty,  with  which  he  is 
associated,  to  correct  the  glaring  discrepance 
existing  between  the  Christianity  professed  in 
our  colleges  and  the  mode  in  which  education 
has  been  there  conducted  ;  of  which  correction 
he  gives  a  good  account  of  the  beginning  there 
made.  I  cannot  doubt,  that  the  change  there 
begun,  will  so  manifest  its  advantages  in  furnish- 
ing superior  men  for  every  exigency,  that  our 
other  colleges  must  follow  the  example,  or  be 
left  "  like  hulks  anchored  in  the  stream  of  time, 
serving  to  show  how  fast  the  current  of  general 
improvement  is  passing  by/'  * 

*  I  have  no  intent  of  representing  this  comparison  as 
really  applicable  to  our  colleges  in  their  present  state ; 
still  1  cannot  but  agree  with  many  of  the  best  friends  of 
education,  that  there  is  no  necessity,  why,  after  one  has 
completed  what  is  nominally  his  education,  his  real  edu- 
cation should  be  hardly  begun.  The  managers  of  our 
colleges  and  professional  schools  need  to  be  reminded, 
that  the  world  is  fast  discovering  the  evils  incident  to 
the  possession  of  funds,  to  the  habit  of  going  in  a  pre- 
scribed track,  and  to  being  venerated  as  wisdom's  and 

% 


41 

The  writer  several  years  since  engaged  some- 
what zealously  in  inculcating  some  sentiments, 
which  sounded  new  to  most  ears,  the  leading 
principles  of  which  were,  that  to  carry  forward 
reform  and  improvement,  we  ought  to  abolish  all 
monopolies  *  and  mysteries,  make  the  interest 
and  duty  of  every  class  of  men  coincide,  and 
have  people  pay  for  knowledge  rather  than  be 
taxed  for  ignorance.  In  urging  the  immediate, 
full,  and  practical  admission  of  these  principles 

learning's  highest  seats.  The  only  remedy  1  would 
now  propose  for  these  evils  is,  the  encouragement  of 
other  seminaries  founded  on  a  juster  estimate  of  human 
nature  and  the  wants  of  the  American  people  ;  and  that 
private  or  5eZ/-education  be  more  duly  appreciated.  I 
would  not  discredit  our  theological  seminaries.  They 
certainly  possess  some  advantages  over  the  old  way  of 
studying  with  a  parish  minister ;  while  this  also  has  its 
advantages  for  introducing  the  student  into  the  practical 
duties  of  his  profession.  I  would  have  a  class  educated 
both  ways,  that  by  comparison,  each  might  learn  better 
its  own  defects,  and  be  excited  to  a  holy  emulation. 

*  A  great  step  towards  perfection,  would  be  the  full 
and  practical  admission  of  the  principle,  that  every  one 
has  the  right  to  employ  his  talents  to  the  utmost  for  his 
own  benefit,  as  far  as  he  can  do  it  without  injuring 
others.  This  system  of  government  is  certainly  far  su- 
perior to  that  of  exclusive  privileges  of  any  kind.  ^  *  * 
Monopoly  impedes  improvement  in  every  thing.-^  Spurz* 
beim  on  Education,  pp.  182, 190. 


48 

as  the  great  desidei^atvm  for  giving  an  impulse 
onward  to  the  human  mind,  like  that  created  by 
the  Reformation,  though  at  the  cost  of  being 
pitied  as  a  fanatic,  a  visionary,  and  a  dreamy 
speculator,  he  was  conscious  of  being  entitled  to 
no  peculiar  credit  for  independence  :  so  fully 
was  he  satisfied,  that  by  the  mutation  of  these 
times,  Divine  Providence  was  casting  us  on  a 
sort  of  necessity  to  take  our  stand  firmly  on  what 
we  honestly  believe  to  be  truth  and  right,  and 
let  the  world  give  in  its  accordance,  when  it  is 
ready  :  so  clearly  did  he  see,  that  this  restlessly 
inquiring  and  novel-seeking  age  must  before 
long  pay  some  attention  to  his  principles ;  and 
so  sure  was  he,  that  once  firmly  grasped,  their 
truth  and  importance  would  be  so  fully  felt,  that 
they  never  would  be  abandoned.  He  is  now 
happy  to  acknowledge  the  testimonials  coming 
in  from  all  quarters,  and  from  men  generally 
acknowledged  as  of  sound  judgment,  giving  in 
their  accordance  with  the  writer's  views.  Thus 
with  confirmed  confidence,  he  invites  all,  by  the 
manifest  folly  of  steering  by  a  breath  so  change- 
able as  the  popular  gale,  to  inquire  freely,  and 
decide  firmly. 

I  believe  I  have  never  written  or  uttered  any 
thjing,  and  hope  I  never  shall  write  or  utter  any 


49 

thing,  in  regard  to  my  favopte  views,  to  require 
a  formal  protestation,  that,  as  I  know  my  own 
heart,  I  am  not  actuated  by  anger  or  hatred 
towards  any  class  of  men.  I  am  confident,  that 
they  who  are  familiar  with  my  writings  and  con- 
versation, will  not  suspect  me  of  being  otherwise 
actuated,  than  by  a  desire  to  promote  the  best 
temporal  and  eternal  welfare  of  the  members  of 
each  of  the  three  learned  professions,  as  well  as 
of  society  at  large.  And  if  any  should  under- 
take the  defence  of  my  principles  by  writing  or 
orally,  I  hope  they  will  take  care,  not  only  so  to 
feel,  but  so  to  express  themselves,  as  never  to  be 
suspected  of  feeling  otherwise.  Especially  I  pray, 
that  these  principles  may  never  be  made  hobbies 
for  party  organization.  I  honestly  think  them 
too  pure  and  respectable  for  such  prostitution. 

One  very  much  neglected  principle  of  Chris- 
tianity and  of  sound  philosophy  is,  that  ''He  who 
is  not  for  me  is  against  me  ;  "  or,  that  whoever 
loves  not  his  neighbor  as  himself — has  not  an 
ardent  desire,  like  Howard,  to  promote  the  wel- 
fare of  mankind — a  decided  determination  for 
this  end  to  sacrifice  ease  and  interest,  profes- 
sional pride  and  whatever  else — he  is  fairly 
construed  as  an  enemy  of  his  species ;  and 
will  manifest  himself  as  decidedly  such,  when 

5* 


50 

placed  in  circumstances  of  open  conflict  between 
his  interest  and  theirs.  (Comp.  Rom.  vii. 
7 — 13^  viii.  7.)  Equally  clear  is  it,  that  such 
philanthropy  is  comparatively  rare  among  men  ; 
and  very  peculiarly  must  that  body  of  men  be 
constituted,  in  which  it  is  the  ruling  principle. 
Of  course  whatever  body  is  not  so  peculiarly 
constituted,  is  constructively  at  enmity  with  the 
welfare  of  mankind  in  such  a  sense,  that  it  will 
be  sure  to  sacrifice  that  welfare  to  its  own 
present  interest,  when  they  come  into  conflict. 
This  simple  principle,  and  this  only,  fully  ex- 
plains, why  aristocracies,  monopolies,  and  mys- 
teries, have  so  completely  contradicted  in  fact 
all  that  their  friends  have  theorized  in  their 
favor ;  and  why  the  wisdom  of  this  world  has  so 
often  reasoned  so  sadly  amiss,  when  it  seemed 
only  to  be  taking  hold  of  the  certain  advantages 
of  the  division  of  labor. 

That  the  wise  of  this  world  have  not  more 
fully  attended  in  practice  to  the  curse  pro- 
nounced on  him  that  trusteth  in  man,  (Jer.  xvii. 
5.)  has  arisen,  I  think,  from  a  desire  to  evade 
the  corresponding  charge  of  deceit  and  wicked- 
ness, (v.  9.)  and  to  find  generally  prevalent  a 
powerful  counteracting  force  of  humane  feeling 
and  sense  of  honor.     Vain  effort !  we  may  say. 


51 

without  adopting  the  peculiarities  of  any  sect. 
So  have  said  men  the  most  diverse  in  their 
sectarian  theolo^.  Says  Spurzheim,*  "The 
members  of  the  ordinary  professions  do  not  think 
it  necessary  to  conceal,  that  the  end  and  aim  of 
all  their  exertions  is  selfishness."  Says  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Walker,  *'  I  fear,  we  have  been  a  little  too 
eloquent  in  our  praises  of  human  virtue  :  I 
believe,  that  generally  and  practically  speaking, 
men  are  just  as  good  as  they  are  required  to  be 
by  public  opinion,  and  no  better.'' f 

I  have  spoken  of  the  evils  which  seem  to 
threaten  your  professions  more  or  less  from  the 
revolutionary  character  of  the  age.  My  best 
advice  is,  as  God  has  promised  all  other  things 
to  them  who  seek  first  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
take  him  at  his  word.  Resolve  in  good  earnest 
to  seek  above  all  things  the  advancement  of  his 
kingdom,  by  doing  away,  as  your  education  and 
talents  have  fitted  you,  the  evils,  which  hinder 
men  from  reflecting  clearly  in  body  and  soul  the 
image  of  their  Maker.  You  may  then  fairly 
expect  him  to  add  all  things  necessary  for  this 
life,  as  a  pledge  of  the  safety  of  trusting  his 
word  for  the  life  which  is  to  come. 

*  On  Education,  p.  271. 

t  Election  Sermon,  (quoted  from  memory.) 


52 


A  THIRD  APPEAL 

TO  THE  THREE   LEARNED  PROFESSIONS. 

Suppose  the  ancient  legislators  of  this  Com- 
monwealth had  incorporated  a  company  of  mer- 
chants with  the  exclusive  privilege  of  dealing  in 
merchandize,  to  admit  whom^  they  pleased  int6 
their  own  number,  to  enact  their  own  by-laws 
and  fix  their  own  prices.  Suppose  the  people 
had  been  persuaded  that  this  was  all  right  and 
proper,  and  that  they  were  deeply  indebted  to 
these  merchants  for  furnishing  them  with  the 
means  of  living.  We  can  easily  imagine,  how 
much  might  have  been  argued  in  favor  of  such 
a  course.  It  might  have  been  defended  as 
necessary  to  maintain  the  respectability  of  the 
mercantile  profession  ;  to  protect  the  public  from 
the  impositions  of  incompetent  and  knavish 
traders.  We  might  have  been  told  of  the  long 
apprenticeship  necessary  to  instruct  one  in  all 
the  mysteries  of  trade  ;  and  of  the  advantages  of 


63 

a  regularly  organized  body,  to  check  the  circu- 
lation of  pernicious  articles  :  especially  the  in- 
ducement they  would  have  from  self-interest,  to 
check  such  a  free  use  of  ardent  spirits,  as  would 
render  thousands  unable  to  pay  their  debts,  or 
provide  their  families  with  the  necessaries  of 
life.  But  after  all  that  might  have  been  thus 
reasoned,  I  believe  we  shall  pretty  well  agree, 
that  the  evidence  of  experience  would  have  fully 
refuted  the  reasoning^that  the  scheme  would 
have  produced  far  worse  evils  than  those  arising 
from  the  present  free  competition,  and  the  ex- 
cessive spirit  of  speculation. 

Let  us  suppose  moreover  the  above  imagined 
scheme  to  be  an  anomaly  in  our  social  institu- 
tions, monopolies  and  exclusive  pretensions  to 
be  generally  odious,  the  people  to  be  as  now 
restlessly  inquisitive,  and  jealous  of  their  repub- 
lican rights.  Suppose  they  have  tolerated  the 
anti-republican  anomaly  some  centuries,,  because 
their  attention  has  not  been  directed  towards  it ; 
because  they  have  been  so  busily  engaged  in 
fighting  the  cause  of  freedom,  and  establishing 
republican  principles  in  other  departments ; 
because  they  have  been  so  proud  of  their  achieve- 
ments in  the  cause  of  liberty  and  independence, 
that  He  "  whose  service  is  perfect  freedom,"  has 


54 

justly  permitted  *  the  delusion,  to  reserve  its  ex- 
posure to  be  brought  out  for  the  mortification  of 
their  pride,  whenever  he  sees  fit.  Suppose 
again,  that  in  the  natural  progress  of  free  in- 
quiry, attention  begins  to  be  excited  towards  the 
anti-republican  anomaly  ;  hints  are  thrown  out 
pretty  freely,  that  from  the  general  selfishness  of 
mankind,  and  the  known  tendency  of  privileged 
bodies  to  be  very  barren  of  fruits  for  the  public 
good,  it  would  be  strange  indeed,  if  behind  the 
veil  a  good  deal  of  imposition  were  not  practised 
on  popular  credulity.  Now,  from  the  habit  of 
resting  on  their  privileges,  and  the  implicit  def- 
erence of  the  community,  would  not  the  incor- 
porated merchants  be  in  great  danger  of  hot 
anticipating  the  change  in  public  sentiment 
seasonably  enough,  to  yield  their  antiquated 
pretensions  with  such  good  grace  as  to  save  their 
credit  with  the  public?  Would  not  he  who 
warned  them  so  to  do,  very  probably  be  treated 
with  contempt,  or  as  an  impertinent  troubler  of 
undisputed  rights  ?  By  a  little  excess  of  obsti- 
nacy in  not  yielding  to  the  changes  of  the  times, 
would  they  not  run  the  risk  of  being  over- 
whelmed at  last  by  an  undeserved  torrent  of 
public  contempt  or  public  indignation  ?  In 
short,  would  they  not  be  in  imminent  hazard  of 


55 

incurring  a  fate  like  that  of  Charles  and  of  Louis 
in  political  life,  who,  for  not  yielding  a  little  to 
the  popular  current  in  season,  found  at  last  all 
concessions  vain,  and  were  plunged  ten  thou- 
sand fathoms  beneath  the  flood  ? 

As  I  write  for  men  accustomed  to  compare 
and  infer,  I  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  detail 
where,  and  how  nearly  may  be  found  parallels 
to  the  supposition  above  made.  I  think  some- 
thing more  or  less  like  it  might  be  found  in 
more  than  one  or  two  departments. 

If  your  three  professions  were  fully  based 
upon  those  principles  of  human  nature,  which 
Christianity  and  republicanism  teach,  (and  in 
my  view  they  closely  harmonize,)  I  think  we 
should  be  rid  of  some  such  evils  as  the  following. 
Attention  would  be  less  directed  towards  vice 
and  wretchedness  in  their  specific  forms,  and 
more  to  the  root  and  principle.  We  should  be 
spared  the  abundance  of  disgusting  details  laid 
before  the  public  of  the  abuses  of  the  repro- 
ductive function,  and  see  more  effort  made  to 
resist  the  pernicious  and  expensive  fashions, 
which  render  it  so  hard  for  young  men  to  enter 
the  domestic  relation,  and  to  correct  the  errors  of 
diet,  which  unnaturally  stimulate  the  appetites. 
We  should  not  have  one  editor  denouncing  the 


56 

distilleries,  and  another  the  confectioners'  shops, 
as  almost  the  only  fountain-heads  of  vice,  poverty 
and  disease.  We  should  not  have  a  party 
w^ith  their  attention  riveted  on  one  form  of  sin, 
that  in  which  it  appears  in  a  class  of  men  a 
thousand  miles  off,  and  denouncing  that  class  of 
sinners  with  a  vehemence  and  self-complacency, 
as  if  they  saw  in  others  nothing  but  disinterested 
benevolence.  We  should  not  hear  so  much  said 
of  depraved  appetites,  and  so  little  of  the  causes 
of  such  depravity.  It  would  have  been  generally 
understood  before  this,  how  appetites  are  de- 
praved, by  the  bread  which  is  baked  for  the 
public;  by  the  vicious  manner  in  which  animals 
are  fatted  for  the  market,  by  vicious  modes  of 
agriculture — by  fields  exhausted  of  their  strength, 
or  forced  into  overbearing  by  rank  manure,  or 
overrun  with  noxious  weeds.  We  should  not 
have  the  highest  authorities  in  agriculture, 
recommending  the  exclusive  use  of  green 
manure,  because  it  yields  a  greater  crop,  as  if 
there  were  no  room  for  the  inquiry,  whether  the 
crop  so  yielded  be  not  a  fruitful  source  of  dis« 
ease.  We  should  not  see  on  some  of  our 
apparently  most  thriving  farms,  and  in  most 
healthy  situations,  whole  families  wasting  away, 
just  because  the  blind  have  been  leading  the 


57 

blind,  till  both  are  fast   falling  into  the  ditch 
together. 

In  the  blunders  committed  by  people  in  regard 
to  such  matters,  I  seem  to  see  plain  indications, 
that  left  to  themselves,  they  will  blunder  right  at 
last.  For  the  honor  of  learning,  I  wish  to  see 
the  professions  which  are  specially  dignified 
with  her  name,  do  what  remains  to  be  done  to 
set  public  sentiment  right.  Let  not  the  mali- 
cious remark  be  too  fully  verified,  that  heads 
filled  with  Latin  and  Greek,  mathematics  and 
professional  lore,  are  the  last  to  admit  the  evi- 
dence of  their  own  eyes,  and  the  suggestions  of 
plain,  practical,  common  sense. 


A  FOURTH  APPEAL 

TO  THE  THREE   LEARNED  PROFESSIONS. 

It  has  been  objected  to  the  supposition  of  the 
incorporated  merchants  in  my  last  Appeal,  that 
it  is  not  exactly  parallel  to  some  cases  to  which 
it  might  be  intended  to  be  applied  ;  that  of  the 
qualities  of  merchandize,  which  people  buy  for 

6 


68 

their  own  consumption,  they  are  far  better  qual- 
ified to  judge,  than  they  are  competent  to  reason 
aright  in  regard  to  other  interests,  which  have 
been  committed  to  privileged  orders  or  faculties. 
Thus  the  Spanish  Priest  would  probably  argue, 
So  complicated  is  the  structure  of  the  human 
soul,  so  vast  the  scheme  of  religion,  that  very 
few  individuals  in  our  communities  know,  when 
they  need  discipline  or  penance  ;  hence  "  they 
can  never  properly  estimate  the  effects  of  these 
remedial  measures,  and  are  constantly  exposed 
to  be  the  dupes  of  ignorance." 

I  reply,  first,  suppose  it  had  been  beat  into 
people  from  their  earliest  days,  that  trade  is 
such  a  mysterious  art,  and  so  complex  the  con- 
siderations, on  which  the  value  and  proper  use 
of  articles  of  merchandize  depend,  that  they 
must  not  exercise  their  own  judgment  on  the 
case.  Suppose  it  had  always  been  inculcated, 
that  to  deal  in  articles  of  food,  requires  such  a 
minute  acquaintance  with  the  internal -structure 
of  the  body,  its  functions  of  digestion,  assimila- 
tion, &c.,  with  the  Latin  ;iames  of  every  article, 
and  of  every  part  of  the  body  to  be  nourished 
thereby,  that  the  art  must  be  committed  to  a 
corporation  strictly  defended  from  intruders. 
Suppose  law   and  public   sentiment   had   long 


59 

stigmatized   as  fortunately   we   have  no 

word  to  express  what  I  was  going  to  say  ;  but  if 
the  wisdom  of  our  legislators  and  public  senti- 
ment had  taken  the  course  supposed,  we  should 
doubtless  have  had  to  express  the  occupation  of 
the  independent  trader  in  despite  of  law,  a  word 
as  opprobrious,  as  is  heresy  or  quackery,  to  ex- 
press independency  in  religion  or  medicine.  If 
these  suppositions  had  been  realized,  would  not 
our  people  generally  have  been  as  incompetent 
judges  of  articles  of  merchandize,  as  they  are  to 
judge  in  regard  to  any  of  their  interests  ?  as  in- 
competent as  the  people  of  Spain  are  to  judge  of 
religious  doctrines  ? 

I  reply,  secondly,  supposing  the  people  to  be 
thus  ignorant  in  regard  to  merchandize,  would 
such  ignorance  probably  render  the  imposition 
of  the  incorporated  merchants  more  or  less  op- 
pressive? Or,  supposing  religion  to  b.e  indeed 
so  complicated  and  mysterious  a  subject,  that 
people  generally  cannot  exercise  any  rational 
judgment  upon  it,  but  must  surrender  reason 
and  conscience  to  their  priests,  and  detest  all  at 
variance  with  what  they  are  taught  by  their 
authorized  guides,  as  spiritual  quackery  ;  would 
this  be  an  argument,  why  the  priests  should  or 
should  not  live  on  the  vices  of  the  people? 


60 

Would  it  render  it  more  or  less  dangerous  to 
have  the  people  pay  for  spiritual  disease,  rather 
than  for  spiritual  health? 

I  am  aware,  there  are  qualifying  considera- 
tions in  regard  to  the  conclusion  to  which  these 
remarks  tend.  First,  there  are  in  every  profes- 
sion, men,  in  whom  the  gospel  has  implanted  a 
principle  opposite  to  that  selfishness,  which  is 
the  general  **  end  and  aim."  To  overlook  the 
exceptions  would  be  as  unphilosophical  as  to 
deny  the  general  rule.  There  have  always  been, 
too,  unlicensed  pretenders  in  medicine,  gaining 
more  or  less  the  confidence  of  the  populace,  to 
keep  licensed  practitioners  from  going  quite  to 
sleep.  Then  again  the  jealousy  generally  enter- 
tained towards  the  legal  profession,  has  had  its 
salutary  influence.  Many  more  qualifying  con- 
siderations in  regard  to  this  profession  might  be 
suggested  ;  but  to  do  so  would  only  be  to  repeat 
the  substance  of  what  one  has  already  said  in  a 
Temperance  Address  delivered  before  the  Bar 
of  Oxford  County,  Maine.  But  after  all,  the  case 
is  very  different  from  what  it  would  be,  if  the 
members  of  the  three  professions  generally  were 
impelled  by  fervent  charity  to  spend  and  be 
spent,  for  bringing  about  the  perfection  of 
society  ;  or,  in  defect  of  such  impulse,  if  interest 


and  duty  were  everywhere  m^0Jx}  coftfe^^  r,^ 
and  the  principle  of  maintainingSj^f d^^  live       "^  X 
on  the  ignorance,  vices,  and  distress  ^ntt|T  Qs« 
community,  universally  and  forever  abandoned. 

If  the  clergy  have  not  raised  their  voice 
against  this  practical  absurdity  of  our  social 
system,  it  must  be  remembered  in  palliation  of 
their  fault,  how  jealous  people  have  been  of  their 
interesting  themselves  in  things  political  or  civil, 
or  anywise  aside  from  their  more  appropriate 
province.  Bat  I  can  say,  from  ample  acquain- 
tance, and  particular  inquiry,  that  a  feeling  has 
taken  strong  hold,  and  is  fast  gaining  with  them, 
that  the  Reformation  and  our  own  Revolution, 
were  but  different  acts  in  the  great  drama  of  the 
Mind's  Emancipation  from  profession-craft  and 
superstition,  the  last  and  greatest  of  which  is  yet 
to  follow.  It  cannot  long  escape  acute  ob- 
servers, that  the  issue,  to  which  I  as  their 
herald  am  urging  matters,  is  but  the  last  great 
battle  between  republican  and  aristocratic  prin- 
ciples. This  contest  has  been  so  often  agitated 
on  other  grounds,  that  no  doubt  can  remain  of 
the  result.  Or  rather,  so  weary  am  I  of  all  con- 
tention, I  would  fain  hope,  that  the  merits  of  the 
question  at  issue  may  be  so  fully  and  forcibly 
urged  upon  the  minds  of  those,  whose  unfortu- 

6* 


62 

nate  education  has  set  them  in  opposition  to 
popular  rights  and  the  perfection  of  the  social 
system,  that  they  may  be  induced  to  decline  the 
contest  as  hopeless,  and  come  over  voluntarily 
to  the  side  of  freedom. 

But  if  this  result  cannot  be  brought  about 
without  a  degree  of  agitation,  I  believe  there  is 
yet  enough  of  the  spirit  of  '76  among  the  clergy, 
to  furnish  a  host,  not  to  shrink  from  responsi- 
bility. The  very  agitation,  I  believe,  will  serve 
to  distinguish,  who  have  at  heart  the  bringing 
about  of  the  best  welfare  of  the  community,  and 
the  vindication  of  Eternal  Providence  from  the 
foul  aspersions  cast  upon  it  by  the  present  prev- 
alence of  bodies  loaded  with  disease,  and  of  pre- 
mature death. 

I  have  been  happy  to  find  the  feeling  to  which 
I  have  alluded,  chiefly  among  those,  who  have 
learned  wisdom  from  observing,  how  often  the 
cause  of  truth  and  right  has  been  dishonored  by 
having  enlisted  on  its  side  personal  animosity, 
party  spirit,  and  egotism  ;  who  do  not  relieve 
people  from  the  irksomeness  of  contemplating 
their  own  sins,  by  rousing  their  indignation 
against  the  sins  of  others  ;  who  would  not  have 
an  outcry  raised  against  slavery  at  a  distance,  to 
divert  attention  from  the  slavery  existing  nearer 


63 

home  ;  who,  whether  they  contemplate  the  pros- 
titution of  the  sacred  names  of  liberty  and 
humanity  to  the  gratification  of  senseless  passion 
and  unhallowed  ambition,  or  the  wide  spread 
havoc  of  human  life  made  by  the  combined 
operation  of  superstition  and  professional  pride, 
seem  incapable  of  any  stronger  emotion,  than 
"  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what 
they  do." 

Such  clergymen,  having  acted  their  part  well 
in  the  closing  scene  of  the  Mind's  Emancipation, 
may  expect  to  find  the  word  of  God  quick  and 
powerful  in  their  hands  to  reach  the  hearts  of 
men,  as  they  had  scarcely  dared  hope  to  witness 
— a  change,  as  if  the  sword  of  the  Spirit  had 
recovered  its  lost  edge ;  or  as  if  the  Sun  of 
righteousness  had  emerged  from  the  misty  hori- 
zontal air,  no  longer  shorn  of  his  beams. 


64 


AN  APPEAL 

TO  THE  MEMBERS  OF  THE  LEGAL  PROFESSIONT, 
ESPECIALLY  TO  THOSE  BELONGING  TO  THE 
PRESENT*  LEGISLATURE  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 

It  appeared  strange  to  some  that  the  attempt 
made  in  our  last  legislature  to  abolish  the  mo- 
nopoly enjoyed  by  your  profession,  should  have 
been  defeated,  after  the  precedent  adopted  in 
regard  to  the  medical  profession.  The  fact, 
however,  is  readily  explained,  when  we  recollect 
your  preponderance  in  our  legislative  assemblies, 
and  the  known  reluctance  of  privileged  bodies 
to  yield  their  antiquated  pretensions.  I  shall 
not  canvass  the  arguments  with  which  you  re- 
sisted the  late  attempt  to  give  free  access  to  the 
bar.  They  were  just  those  which  have  been 
used  in  every  contest  with  republican  principles 
by  aristocrats  and  monopolists,  learned  ignorance 
and  professional  pride.     But  I   wish  just  to  call 

*  January,  1836. 


66 

your  attention  to  the  effect  which  the  continu- 
ance of  the  present  state  of  things  will  have  on 
your  own  profession. 

Human  vvisdom  has  ever  sought  to  secure  the 
respectability  of  its  favored  professions,  by  giving 
the  privilege  of  refusing  admission  to  those 
judged  incompetent.  I'he  inevitable  result  of 
all  such  indulgence  uniformly  is,  that  the  pro- 
fession most  securely  defended  by  mystery  and 
exclusive  privileges,  becomes  a  refuge  for  the 
college  graduates,  and  other  ambitious  young 
men,  who  want  talents  and  character  to  stand 
an  open  and  honorable  competition.  If  I  wished 
to  render  a  profession  not  respectable,  I  would 
take  just  the  course  which  has  ever  been  pur- 
sued so  confidently  for  securing  the  opposite 
result. 

Every  practical  man  will  admit  at  once  the 
general  proposition,  that  our  best  securities  for 
rendering  men  faithful  and  efficient  are,  to 
watch  them  narrowly,  to  leave  competition  free, 
and  to  make  interest  and  duly  coincide.  Strange 
that  what  appears  so  plain,  should  be  so  long  in 
obtaining  full  admission  in  practice.  I  need 
not  tell  you  how  religion  fared,  when  people 
yielded  implicitly  their  confidence  to  their  spir- 
itual   guides,   who  were    constituted    the  sole 


66 

judges  whom  to  admit  into  their  number,  and 
whose  revenues  flowed  from  the  vices  of  the 
people.  In  regard  to  the  clergy,  we  have  come 
fully  into  the  admission  of  the  principles  above 
stated,  and  their  respectability  has  risen  and  is 
rising  accordingly. 

People  did  not  see  at  once,  that  principles 
evident  enough  in  regard  to  religion,  were 
equally  applicable  in  regard  to  medicine.  Ac- 
cordingly, legislative  wisdom  and  popular  senti- 
ment long  sought  to  promote  the  respectability 
of  the  medical  profession,  and  the  efficacy  of 
medical  practice,  by  sustaining  a  monopoly, 
yielding  implicit  confidence,  and  stigmatizing  all 
independence  as  quackery  and  empiricism.  It 
was  seen  at  last,  that  to  legislate  against  quackery, 
is  just  as  foolish  as  to  legislate  against  heresy. 
Our  last  legislature  consequently  abolished  the 
old  restrictions,  and  so  far  as  legislative  enact- 
ments can  do  it,  left  medical  practitioners  to  be 
estimated  like  other  men,  as  they  can  satisfy 
people  of  their  fidelity  and  skill.  The  result 
will  inevitably  be,  that  the  profession  will  cease 
to  be  a  refuge  for  aspiring  youths,  who  seek  to 
hide  ignorance  and  inefficiency,  behind  profes- 
sional mystery  and  professional  privileges. 
The  character  of  the  profession   will   rise,  as 


67 

much  as  that  of  the  clerical  profession  has  risen 
under  like  treatment. 

Meanwhile,  how  is  to  fare  the  character  of  the 
legal  profession?  Will  you  insist  on  being 
alone  in  the  privileges  of  a  monopoly — of  admit- 
ting, at  your  own  discretion,  your  members  ? 
Your  profession  now  (from  late  charges)  pre- 
sents the  most  alluring  opening  to  ambhious 
ignorance  and  incompetence.  Will  you  con- 
tinue it  thus,  or  will  you  voluntarily  throw  it 
open  to  that  fair  competition,  acknowledged  to 
be  so  important  in  all  other  interests  ? 

I  know  that,  in  the  debates  of  the  last  legis- 
lature, you  represented  the  question  at  issue  to 
be,  whether,  in  practising  law,  a  thorough  pre- 
paration should  be  made,  just  as  people  are  ex- 
pected to  prepare  themselves  competently  for 
other  business.  This  is  not  the  question  at  all. 
It  is,  whether  you,  as  a  close  corporation,  shall 
decide,  or  whether  the  people  shall  be  permitted 
to  decide  for  themselves,  who  are  competent  to 
manage  their  causes,  just  as  they  decide  in 
regard  to  their  other  interests. 

These  suggestions  are  made  from  the  sincere 
desire  of  seeing  your  profession  not  lose,  but 
gain,  in  respectability ;  and  from  the  firm  con- 
viction*, that  the  course  suggested  is  the  sole 
way  to  such  result. 


68 


THE  CIRCULAR  * 

The  following  is  the  circular  to  the  presidents 
of  the  colleges,  referred  to  in  the  second  Appeal. 
Its  publication  may  seem  inconsistent  with  pro- 
fessions therein.  But  it  has  been  thought  best 
for  the  following  reasons. 

1.  An  answer  from  only  one  college  has  been 
received.  It  is  therefore  concluded,  that  as  to 
the  rest  generally,  the  old  rule  is  not  to  be  vio- 
lated, that  it  does  not  lit  their  dignity  to  notice 
any  thing  of  prime  importance  to  the  welfare  of 
the  community,  till  public  sentiment  decides  for 
it. 

2.  I  wish  to  bring  fully  and  plainly  before  the 
members  of  each  profession,  the  evils  among 
themselves  requiring  correction.  There  seems 
more  hope  of  influencing  those  who  come  most 

*  See  A  Word  to  the  Wise,  &c.,  Moral  Reformer, 
Vol.  I.  p.  258. 


69 

into  contact  with  general  society,  than  those  whose 
duties  ^re  more  confined  within  college  walls. 

3^.  Though  it  would  be  mere  affectation  to 
suppose,  that  other  than  professional  men  will 
not  read  what  is  published  for  them  especially, 
or  that  they  will  read  it  without  sensation ;  yet 
I  have  judged,  it  might  be  best  to  lay  it  before 
the  public:  first,  judging. from  all  past  experi- 
ence, it  is  hardly  to  be  expected,  that  any  body 
of  men  will  seriously  set  itself  thoroughly  to 
remove  its  own  deep-rooted  and  long  tolerated 
evils,  till  pretty  closely  urged  by  the  general 
voice.  Secondly,  I  have  thought,  that  the 
manner,  in  which  the  cause  of  the  people  is 
here  stated,  would  rather  give  precision  and 
temper  to  their  demands,  than  exasperate  their 
passions. 

Dorchester,  Mass,  June  11, 1835. 
Sir, 

I  have  some  thoughts,  the  result  of  the  obser- 
vation and  reflection  of  years,  on  the  subject  of 
general  reform  and  social  improvement,  which 
seem  to  me  important  enough,  to  justify  me  in 
departing  from  ordinary  rules,  thus  to  address 
you.  That  temperance,  and  every  kindred 
cause,  are  very  much  at  a  stand,  I  find  pretty 


70 

generally  acknowledged.  Their  friends  seem  to 
be  aware,  that  the  root  of  the  evil  has  not  been 
reached,  and  at  a  loss,  where  to  strike  next. 
Without  further  preface,  I  beg  leave  to  suggest 
to  you,  whether  the  radical  difficulty  be  not  pre- 
cisely here,  that  about  one  half  of  pur  liberally 
educated  men  are  educated  to  get  their  living 
on  the  ignorance,  the  vices,  and  the  miseries,  of 
the  community.  Our  lawyers  are  educated,  not 
to  instruct  people  in  the  constitution  and  laws  of 
the  land,  their  rights  and  obligations,  and  to 
keep  them  out  of  difficulty,  but  to  profit  by  the 
errors  committed  for  lack  of  such  knowledge. 
Our  physicians  are  educated,  not  to  teach  people 
the  art  of  preserving  health,  but  to  profit  by 
people's  ignorance  of  such  art. 

In  allowing  these  interests  to  remain  so  much 
in  opposition  to  the  best  welfare  of  the  commu- 
nity— in  confiding  so  much  to  the  disinterested 
benevolence  of  men,  whom,  generally  speaking, 
we  cannot  suppose  to  be  animated  with  the  spirit 
of  Paul,  to  encounter  evil  report  or  good  report, 
to  spend  and  be  spent,  for  the  welfare  of  man- 
kind— we  are  practically  setting  at  defiance  the 
divine  warning,  "  Cursed  be  the  man  that 
trusteth  in  man  ; "  and  practically  denying  the 
corresponding   declaration,   that  "the  heart  is 


71 

deceitful  above  all  things  and  desperately 
wicked."  (Jer.  xvii.  5,  9.)  As  a  community,  I 
believe,  we  are  suffering  a  tremendous  penalty, 
for  not  simply  taking  God's  word  here  as  sober 
truth,  and  an  awful  reality.  The  present  con- 
stitution of  things  render  , it  inevitable,  that  the 
professions  in  question  should  not  come  into 
measures  of  reform,  (generally  speaking,)  faster 
than  they  are  driven  by  the  force  of  public  sen- 
timent. I  complain  not  of  them  particularly. 
The  fault  belongs  to  the  whole  body  of  society 
— it  exists  in  the  general  conspiracy  to  contra- 
dict God's  charge  of  the  all-powerful  principle, 
by  which  natural  men  are  governed.  I  acknow- 
ledge a  qualifying  consideration,  so  far  as  in 
every  profession  there  are  men  constrained  by 
the  disinterested  love  of  Christianity :  and  could 
the  whole  number  be  brought  under  the  same 
influence,  it  would  be  the  best  of  all  remedies. 
But  as  a  supplementary  one,  we  need  so  to 
modify  our  social  institutions,  that  people  shall 
pay  for  knowledge,  rather  than  be  taxed  for 
ignorance — ignorance  of  the  organic  laws,  and 
the  laws  of  the  land.  That  the  necessity  of  this 
will  be  generally  seen  before  long,  I  most  firmly 
believe  :  and  I  hold  it  as  a  thought  of  great  im- 
portance, to  be  inculcated  on  the  young  men 


72 

coming  forward  for  professional  life,  that  times 
are  changing,  and  it  behoves  them  not  to  cal- 
culate on  finding  people  pj^y  the  tax  of  ignorance 
so  submissively  as  in  times  past  but  on  being 
the  enlighteners  and  reformers  of  the  aj:e.  I 
wish,  for  the  credit  of  learning,  to  see  its  sacred 
seats  directing  public  movements  in  regard  to 
this  matter  ;  and  not  resting,  till  public  senti- 
ment decides  it;  as  has  too  often  been  the  case 
with  questions  of  great  general  interest.  I  wish 
to  engage  in  the  cause  men,  who  will  take  an 
enlarged,  candid,  and  Christian  view  of  it;  and 
keep  clear  of  the  anti-ism  and  party  spirit,  with 
which  almost  every  thing  now  is  managed. 
There  is  here  no  occasion  for  personal  animosity 
towards  the  men,  whose  present  interests  stand 
in  the  way  of  the  general  welfare.  I  am  but 
looking  ahead  for  difficulties,  with  which  they 
must  by  and  by  be  encompassed,  in  this  repub- 
lican community,  and  in  this  restlessly  inquiring 
age.  If  the  truth  is  not  told  soon  by  men,  who 
will  do  it  kindly  and  candidly,  it  will  be  thun- 
dered out  by  men,  who  will  make  it  a  hobby  for 
party  organization.  I  wish  to  anticipate  such 
men.  All  my  habits  and  feelings  incline  me  to 
shrink  from  coming  forward  as  a  popular  leader. 
For  this  reason  precisely,  I  wish  to  see  the  ac- 


73 

knowledged  leaders  of  the  public  mind  begin- 
ning to  move.  But  if  they  will  refuse,  I  am 
determined,  at  no  distant  day,  to  appeal  directly 
to  the  people — to  tell  them  plainly,  Here  is  the 
evil,  and  you  must  arise  in  your  strength  for  its 
correction.  Flectere  si  nequeo  superos,  Ache- 
ronta  moveho. 

I  am  not  alone  in  the  views  now  expressed. 
Several  men,  eminent  as  editors,  and  otherwise, 
have  testified  to  me  their  cordial  interest  and 
acquiescence  in  the  same.  To  prepare  the  public 
for  what  I  consider  as  a  just  view  of  the  subject, 
I  have,  since  the  commencement  of  the  year, 
published  an  Address  delivered  before  the 
Union  Temperance  Society,  of  Oxford  County, 
Maine,  and  lately  in  the  Boston  Recorder  a 
series  of  articles  headed  Body  and  Soul ;  which 
may  be  continued  further.         Yours, 

WM.  WITHINGTON. 


74 


AN  ADDRESS, 

DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  UNION  TEMPERANCE 
SOCIETY  OF  OXFORD  COUNTY,  MAINE. 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen, 

The  common  ground  of  remark  on  occa- 
sions like  this,  has  been  traversed  so  often,  that 
I  purpose  to  deviate  a  little  from  it,  and  to  speak 
on  the  part  taken  in  the  Temperance  Reforma- 
tion by  the  three  learned  professions  respectively. 
And  intending  to  express  my  sentiments  some- 
what freely,  I  would  premise  distinctly,  that  I 
mean  to  speak  of  neither  in  the  language  of 
boasting,  or  compliment,  or  reproach.  My 
object  is  to  show,  how  the  events  of  this  reform- 
ation are  developing  some  of  the  principles  of 
human  nature, — principles  which  we  shall  find 
always  govern  men  taken  in  a  body.  If,  there- 
fore, in  unfolding  my  views,  I  seem  to  speak  of 
any  class  of  men  as  deficient  in  that  vigilance 
and  energy  which  might  have  been  expected  of 
them  in  staying  the  plague  which  was  desolating 
the  land,  I  shall  do  it  with  the  design  of  showing, 


7§ 

that  their  conduct  calls  for  no  particular  cen- 
sure ;  that  it  is  resolvable  into  the  motives,  or 
principles,  which  govern  mankind  generally. 

One  who  had  never  reflected  particularly  on 
the  principles  of  human  nature,  which  I  intend 
to  illustrate,  if  required  to  predict,  where  the 
crusade  should  originate,  to  be  waged  so  justly 
against  the  destroyer, — who  would  lead  the  van 
in  the  holy  warfare,  would  probably  say,  The 
authorized  guardians  of  the  public  health,  the 
profession  which  introduced  alcohol  as  a  medi- 
cine, whose  prescriptions  more  than  any  thing 
else  had  given  it  currency,  as  an  article  of  com- 
mon necessity ;  the  profession  to  which  so 
implicit  deference  was  paid  by  the  community 
generally  in  matters  within  their  own  province ; 
who  should  have  best  known,  what  evils  the 
article  was  working  in  society,  and  were  under 
so  many  obligations  first  to  sound  an  effectual 
alarm,  as  faithful  sentinels  of  the  public  health. 
The  fact  however  was  different.  Medical  books 
indeed  told  the  truth  plainly  enough  as  to  the 
evils  of  alcohol ;  and  medical  practitioners  were 
not  wanting  to  repeat  the  same  :  but  the  truth 
was  generally  told  as  some  ministers  tell  sinners 
their  danger  and  their  duty,  as  if  they  expected 
not  to  be  attended  to.     It  was  left  to  others  to 


76 

originate,  and  put  into  action,  a  bold  system  of 
measures,  like  men  determined  to  do  something. 
Not  the  credit,  but  the  happiness  of  thus  taking 
the  lead,  I  believe,  must  be  assigned  to  the 
clerical  profession.  Gentlemen  of  the  bar  may 
claim  the  next  place  in  the  enterprise.  I  know 
not  how  the  case  may  be  in  this  vicinity,  but,  I 
believe,  no  one  extensively  acquainted  with  facts 
will  deny,  that  the  other  profession,  as  a  body, 
have  been  manifestly  behind  these  two  in 
promptness  and  energy  to  discourage  altogether 
the  use  of  spirituous  liquors.  And  if  this  be 
questioned,  the  fact  that  they  have  not  been  so 
prominently  the  leaders  in  the  cause,  as  might 
have  been  expected  of  them,  considered  simply 
as  the  authorized  guardians  of  the  public  health, 
will  sufficiently  justify  the  substance  of  what  I 
shall  say,  as  serving  to  show  that  what  an  igno- 
rant or  uncharitable  observer  might  tax  as  a 
flagrant  neglect  of  duty,  is  to  be  resolved  simply 
into  the  universal  principles  of  human  nature. 

One  principle  of  human  action  thus  brought 
to  view,  is,  that  in  order  to  secure  in  men  quick- 
sightedness  and  efficiency  in  bringing  out  great 
practical  results  it  is  all-important  to  make  it 
their  interest  so  to  do,  and  their  present  interest 
too.     Now  the  clerical  profession  had  a  present 


77 

interest  in  devising  an  efTec&al  jjerifeoy  fe  ihe 
evils  of  intemperance^  (apart  X^lj^l^3.t  love  of  i  P  1^ 
God  and  man,  which  alone  shoure^ioye  an  all--  k 
constraining  motive,)  because  the  i m-amjilaje^^^^^. 
tendency  of  men's  becoming  temperate,  is  to 
show  more  respect  for  religion,  and  to  support 
its  institutions  more  liberally.  I  say  a  present 
interest ;  because,  though  I  hope  it  will  appear, 
•that  the  worthy  part  of  the  other  tv/o  professions 
are  to  find  in  this  reformation  the  promotion  of 
their  interest  calculated  on  a  large  scale,  yet 
their  present  interest  is  receiving  a  check.  For 
in  proportion  as  temperance  prevails,  an  inl- 
mense  source  of  litigation,  and  of  disease,  is  cut 
off.  Therefore  the  first  view  of  things  is,  that 
the  temperance  reform  is  to  prove  detrimental  to 
the  legal,  and  to  the  medical  profession  ;  and 
the  injury  threatened  to  each  seems  about  equal. 
We  must  look  then  further  for  the  cause,  why 
the  legal  have  gone  before  the  medical  profes- 
sion in  the  cause  now  before  us :  and  I  seem  to 
find  it  in  the  principle  of  human  action,  that 
men  as  a  body  are  efficient  and  discerning,  in 
proportion  as  they  are  held  responsible  for  re- 
sults to  public  opinion  ;  released  from  which, 
they  have  a  strange  tendency  to  run  wild  in 
their  speculations,  to  act  without  efficiency,  or 


78 

regard  to  plain  fact  and  common  sense ;  and  in 
the  fact  that  lawyers,  much  more  than  physi- 
cians, have  always  been  compelled  to  feel,  that 
they  are  responsible  for  the  results  of  their 
practice. 

Accordingly  we  see  what  a  baneful  influence 
mystery  and  exclusiveness  have  exerted  on  every 
science  or  subject  of  human  thought,  into  which 
they  have  been  carried.  It  has  often  been  at- 
tempted to  promote  science  by  rich  endowments 
and  exclusive  privileges,  that  the  professors 
might  devote  themselves  to  the  pursuit  inde- 
pendently, without  want  of  books  or  apparatus, 
or  fear  of  competition,  or  care  of  providing  for 
their  daily  bread.  But  the  greatest  results  have 
been  brought  about,  not  by  such  means,  but 
against  the  whole  array  of  them, — in  despite  and 
in  defiance  of  them — by  men  thrown  on  their 
own  resources,  compelled  to  feel  that  they  could 
not  sustain  their  credit  on  their  books,  or  on 
their  privileges ; — -but  that  all  their  hope  was  in 
thinking  for  themselves,  and  in  bringing  out 
some  great  result.* 

When  we  review  the  corruptions  so  early  in- 

*  Thus  it  is  as  true  in  philosophy  as  it  is  in  religion, 
that  God  chooses  the  foolish  things  of  the  world  to  con- 
found the  wise,  and  the  weak  things  of  the  world,  to 
confound  the  things  that  are  mighty. 


79 

troduced  into  the  Christian  church,  so  gross 
and  so  long  continued,  we  seem  at  a  loss,  how 
Christianity  could  so  soon  become  so  totally 
changed  from  what  it  was.  At  one  time,  we 
are  indignant  at  the  villany,  which  could  impose 
such  senseless  doctrines  and  practices  on  the 
people.  At  another,  we  wonder  at  the  assur- 
ance, which  could  utter  such  tales,  and  expect 
to  be  believed.  At  another,  we  are  at  a  loss, 
how  ambition  itself,  cunning  and  aspiring  as  it 
is,  could  be  gratified  with  leading  a  multitude 
degraded  so  nearly  to  a  level  with  the  brutes. 
But  in  very  truth  the  clergy  of  those  days  de- 
serve no  peculiar  reproach  for  insincerity,  har- 
dihood, or  stupidity.  They  were  only  acting 
upon  the  principles,  which  are  common  to  man. 
The  beginning  of  mischief  was,  that  from  the 
manifestly  superior  learning  and  superior  piety 
of  the  clergy,  the  people  respectfully  yielded  up 
to  them  the  sole  right  of  deciding  on  religious 
subjects.  This  easily  passed  into  the  sole  right 
of  thinking  on  such  subjects.  The  conse- 
quences were  such  as  inevitably  result  from 
leaving  to  a  privileged  body  to  reason  ,  and 
decide  on  a  subject  of  general  interest.  Not 
bein^  responsible  for  results  to  public  opinion, 
they  reasoned  awry  more  and  more  :    and  thus 


80 

were  introduced  all  the  corruptions,  which  de- 
formed and  disgraced  religion. 

And  as  the  people  honored  and  compensated 
their  spiritual  guides,  not  in  proportion  as  they 
were  made  better  by  their  influence,  but  just  the 
reverse  ;  as  the  vices  of  the  people  filled  the 
coffers  of  the  priests  with  money  paid  for  the 
exercise  of  the  pardoning  and  dispensing  power; 
interest  was  set  against  duty  :  it  was  not  the 
interest  of  the  clergy  to  reform  abuses,  and 
return  to  a  simple  and  direct  method  of  admin- 
istering to  the  spiritual  ills  of  mankind.  In- 
terest, and  the  short-sightedness  consequent 
upon  long  irresponsibility,  so  perverted  the 
judgment  of  the  clergy,  that  it  remained  for 
others  to  discover  truths  so  obvious,  as  that  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  is  not  of  this  world  ;  and  that 
the  working  out  of  one's  salvation  is  not  so  mys- 
terious a  business,  that  the  understanding  and 
conscience  must  be  surrendered  to  a  profes- 
sional guide. 

As  religion  in  the  church,  so  fared  philosophy 
in  the  schools,  while  public  curiosity  pried  not 
into  its  secrets.  Nothing  can  be  more  inge- 
nious than  the  discussions  there  agitated  about 
virtue  and  vice,  entities  and  quiddities  and  the 
predicaments;     and    nothing    more    barren   of 


81 

useful  results;  till  Bacon,  (not  a  philosopher  by 
profession  but  a  statesman,)  following  the  leading 
of  the  times,  dragged  philosophy  from  its  re- 
treats, to  answer  at  the  bar  of  public  opinion, 
for  the  good  it  was  effecting  in  the  world. 

Just  so  has  fared  politics,  while  left  in  the 
hands  of  a  privileged  body.  And  the  constitu- 
tions of  government  best  promoting  the  general 
welfare,  have  been  formed,  not  by  men  born^to 
the  privilege,  and  trained  to  the  art  of  govern- 
ing; but  by  men  selected  from  almost  every 
calling,  self-taught  in  the  art  of  government. 

Again  we  have  an  illustration  of  the  stimulat- 
ing power  of  responsibility,  and  of  the  paralyzing 
influence  of  exclusive  privileges,  in  the  acknow- 
ledged fact,  that  the  clergy  of  an  establishment 
are  always  less  efficient  men,  than  the  dissenting 
clergy.  No  matter  what  the  creed,  or  the  form, 
avowed  by  the  establishment ;  the  result  is  the 
same.  So  confessedly  in  England.  The  estab- 
lished clergy  have  far  the  advantage  as  to  edu- 
cation. (I  mean  scAoo/ education  ;  fox  education 
includes  much  more,  even  all  I  shall  mention  as 
making  the  dissenters  what  they  are.)  They 
have  the  countenance  of  the  great,  and  the  sup- 
port of  .government.  Yet  the  dissenting  clergy 
are  the   efficient   men,  (generally  speaking,  of 

8 


82 

course.)  The  reason  is  obvious  :  they  are  under 
greater  responsibility.  They  depend  on  their 
efficiency  for  their  support.  Unless  too  they 
maintain  a  better  state  of  morals  and  religion, 
than  exists  in  the  establishment,  the  question  is 
at  once  raised ;  What  are  you  gaining  by 
dissent  ?  The  clergy  v/ithin  the  establishment 
may  suffer  religion  and  morals  to  fall  some 
degrees  below  the  level  without,  and  not  attract 
public  animadversion  :  but  not  too  far  below,  or 
they  become  subjects  of  general  remark.  Thus 
dissent  reacts  on  the  establishment :  and  what 
vigor  exists  in  that,  is  mainly  owing  to  the  great 
vigor  existing  without. 

We  see  the  same  principle  brought  to  view, 
when,  reviewing  the  history  of  our  ancestors, 
we  find  that  law,  or  the  administration  of  justice, 
has  never  been  so  widely  diverted  from  its 
proper  end,  as  have  other  things  of  like  general 
interest.  No  doubt  it  has  been  and  may  be  still, 
unnecessarily  complicated  and  mysterious. 
Judges  under  the  influence  of  the  crown  have 
perverted  justice.  Juries  have  been  intimidated, 
or  bribed,  or  swayed  by  popular  phrenzy,  into 
an  unrighteous  verdict.  Still,  law  has  never  been 
corrupted  like  religion.  We  may  find  a  time  in 
the  history  of  our  ancestors,  when  we  may  well 


83 

doubt,  whether  no  churches  would  not  have 
been  better,  than  the  churches  existing  as  they 
were.  But  at  no  period  can  we  reasonably 
suppose,  that  the  public  would  have  been  bene- 
fited by  the  abolition  of  the  courts  of  justice. 

An  explanation  may  be  found  in  the  early 
institution  of  juries.  This  truly  republican  in- 
stitution kept  the  business  from  becoming 
wholly  a  mystery  in  the  hands  of  a  privileged 
irresponsible  body,  or  faculty.  The  common 
sense  of  twelve  plain  men  had  a  mighty  influence 
to  keep  professional  learning  from  running  wild. 
If  the  institution  has  proved  useful  as  furnishing 
a  guard  to  the  honesty  of  judges ;  I  believe,  it 
has  proved  equally  so,  as  a  guard  against  judges* 
being  bewildered  in  their  own  learning. 

Another  comparison  between  the  church  and 
the  court  will  illustrate  the  power  of  responsi- 
bility. It  will  be  acknowledged  by  careful 
observers,  that  generally  speaking  lawyers  in 
their  pleading,  show  more  common  sense,  than 
ministers  in  their  preaching.  We  shall  hardly 
find  a  lawyer  attacking  any  prejudice  in  the 
minds  of  the  jury,  without  a  plain  and  pressing 
cause  for  so  doing  ;  who,  for  instance,  in  ad- 
dressing a  jury  that  believed  in  witchcraft,  would 
attack  their  belief  with  argument  or  ridicule, 


84 

unless  the  success  of  his  client's  cause  required 
that  belief  to  be  subverted.  He  would  be 
thought  strangely  unskilled  in  his  profession, 
who  should  thus  arm  prejudice  against  himself. 
But  a  clergyman  thus  attacking  some  opinion  of 
his  hearers,  without  thinking  what  he  expects  to 
persuade  them  to  or  from  doing,  is  not  a  thing 
unheard  of.  Thus  I  have  known  one  to  belabor 
himself  to  bring  his  hearers  to  accord  with  him  in 
the  opinion  of  some  speculators,  that  the  demo- 
niacs of  the  gospels  were  possessed  of  only  natural 
maladies,  spoken  of  as  possessed  of  devils,  in 
accommodation  to  popular  opinion.  What  prac- 
tical decision  he  expected  them  to  make  from 
the  opinion,  I  presume,  he  never  thought  to 
inquire. 

We  shall  hardly  find  a  lawyer  addressing  a 
jury  in  the  style  of  his  college  orations,  soaring 
above  their  level,  not  thinking  why,  or  under  the 
pretence  of  elevating  their  taste.  Would  that  a 
like  remark  might  be  made  of  the  clerical  pro- 
fession. 

Now  the  cause  of  this  difference  is  not,  that 
in  the  one  profession  we  find  better  native  sense, 
better  scholarship,  or  more  honesty,  than  in  the 
other  ;  but  because  the  lawyer  is  under  a  more 
pressing  responsibility.     When  he  addresses  a 


85 

jury,  every  one  knows  what  he  has  to  do — to 
bring  them  to  a  present  decision  in  favor  of  his 
client.  If  he  fails  of  this,  no  matter  how  fine  a 
speech  he  may  have  made — how  much  he  may 
have  pleased  his  hearers  ;  he  has  failed  of  his 
main  object.  And' if  he  so  fails  a  few  times, 
with  reasonable  means  of  success,  he  loses  his 
professional  reputation,  and  loses  his  support. 
Now,  a  clergyman  ought  never  to  address  a 
congregation,  without  feeling  his  object  to  be,  to 
bring  them  to  decide  a  question  more  important, 
than  any  that  can  come  before  a  jury.  But  he 
is  not  compelled  so  to  feel.  He*  may  preach  to  a 
people  month  after  month,  or  even  year  after 
year,  and  perhaps  not  an  individual  has  done  a 
single  important  act  in  consequence  of  anything 
he  has  said.  But  if  he  has  met  the  theological 
views  of  the  people,  if  his  sermons  have  been 
handsomely  written,  and  well  delivered  ;  if  he 
has  been  agreeable  in  his  social  intercourse, — 
the  people  may  think  he  has  quitted  himself 
well ;  and  almost  of  course  he  takes  up  the 
same  conclusion. 

The  principle  I  have  been  endeavoring  to 
illustrate  is,  that  classes  of  men  are  quick- 
sighted  to  discern  what  the  exigencies  of  the 
times  require,  in  proportion  as  their  profession  is 

8* 


86 

not  veiled  in  mystery,  nor  defended  by  exclu- 
sive privileges,  and  themselves  consequently  re- 
sponsible to  public  opinion  for  results.  Such 
are  led  to  calculate  their  own  interest  on  a  large 
and  liberal  scale.  Whereas  the  opposite  state 
of  things,  while  it  may  consist  with  a  short- 
sighted cunning,  seems  to  deprive  men  of  the 
faculty  of  calculating  their  own  interest  on  an 
extended  scale.  Thus  it  is  that  privileged 
orders,  whether  their  privileges  were  political, 
religious,  or  scientific,  have  so  generally  failed 
to  yield  their  antiquated  pretensions  to  the 
changes  of  the  times,  as  their  own  interest  obvi- 
ously requires.  The  case  of  Charles  I.,  of  Louis 
XVI.  and  his  nobility,  and  of  many  other  privi- 
leged exclusives,  enjoying  political  privileges,  or 
whatever  else,  may  be  described  in  the  same 
words.  A  mighty  current  began  to  move  be- 
neath them.  Had  they  yielded  to  it  in  season, 
they  might  have  exerted  a  full  share  of  influence 
on  its  direction,  saving  their  credit  mostly  or 
wholly,  perhaps,  even  with  increase.  But  they 
would  not.  They  struggled  against  yielding  an 
inch,  till  the  last  gasp.  And  then,  when  they 
would  gladly  have  turned,  and  swum  with  the 
stream,  it  was  too  late  :  and  they  were  plunged 
ten  thousand  fathoms  beneath  the  surface. 


87 

The  principle  thus  far  illustrated  I  believe 
sufficiently  shows,  why  the  profession  which  I 
have  the  honor  to  address,  has  seized  on  the 
decision,  required  by  the  exigency  of  the  times, 
in  regard  to  ardent  spirit,  with  more  promptness 
generally,  than  has  been  manifested  by  the 
faculty  of  medicine.  I  find  the  cause  in  the 
fact,  that  your  profession  is  eminently  calculated 
to  render  you  practical  men.  It  is  not  wrapped 
up  in  mystery.  It  is  your  daily  business  to  clear 
up  its  intricacies  and  mysteries  to  the  apprehen- 
sion of  common  men.  And  your  employers  can 
calculate  very  exactly  how  well  you  execute 
your  trust. 

The  medical  faculty  have  wanted  this  exercise 
for  keeping  open  eyes,  to  mark  the  signs  of  the 
times,  and  seize  the  present  exigency.  The 
profession  has  long  been  considered  as  so  mys- 
terious, and  submitted  so  exclusively  to  the 
judgment  of  its  professors,  as  to  require  implicit 
deference  on  the  part  of  the  employer.  Whether 
there  are  radical  defects  in  the  prevailing  prac- 
tice, whether  in  any  instance  a  patient  has  died 
through  wrong  treatment,  or  recovered  with  a 
constitution  so  impaired  by  medicine,  that  it 
would  have  been  safer  on  the  whole  to  have 
trusted  wholly  to  nature  and  nursing,  to  work  a 


88 

cure,  have  been  considered  as  questions,  which 
it  would  be  presumptuous  for  the  uninitiated  to 
ask.  And  we  have  very  absurdly  withheld  from 
medical  practitioners  the  strong  stimulus  of  self- 
interest  to  devise  a  simple,  safe,  and  thorough 
method  of  curing  disease.  For  instead  of  secur- 
ing our  bodies  against  disease,  as  we  secure  our 
houses  against  fire ;  paying  the  physician  a 
premium  to  v/arrant  our  health  and  requiring 
him  to  forfeit  a  prescribed  sum  for  every  day's 
sickness,  we  have  done  just  the  reverse  :  we 
have  paid  for  sickness,  and  not  for  health.  And 
it  would  be  very  strange,  if  interest  set  against 
duty  did  not  here  exert  the  paralyzing  influence 
so  manifest  in  all  other  cases. 

The  wisdom  of  our  legislators  also  has  thought 
to  secure  the  efficiency  of  medical  practice  by 
laws  giving  exclusive  privileges  to  the  regularly 
licensed  practitioner ;  as  in  some  countries  the 
like  has  been  attempted  in  regard  to  religion,  by 
establishing  a  church  with  its  law-supported, 
law-protected  clergy ;  the  same  reason  being 
assigned  in  both  cases,  the  necessity  of  protect- 
ing people  against  ignorant  pretenders.  Well 
there  is  a  period  of  society  when  it  may  be  best 
to  have  an  established  church  defended  by  some 
exclusive  privileges.     But  the  time  comes,  when 


89 

this  must  be  thrown  aside,  all  denominations  put 
on  a  level,  and  every  one  left  free  and  unre- 
strained to  think  on  the  subject  of  religion. 
And  although  at  such  a  time  we  may  expect 
many  to  abuse  their  liberty  to  licentiousness, 
many  wild  errors  to  be  broached,  and  have  their 
vogue,  and  many  to  be  imposed  upon  by  false 
pretenders ;  yet  we  may  expect,  that  such  errors 
will  soon  reach  their  maturity  and  die  away,  and 
that  all  things  are  hastening  to  the  ultimate 
purity  of  truth,  and  to  the  full  development  of 
the  energies  of  undefiled  religion. 

I  think,  that  a  parallel  may  here  be  found  be- 
tween the  science  relating  to  the  health  of  our 
souls,  and  that  which  relates  to  the  health  of  our 
bodies.  If  I  mistake  not,  it  is  the  misfortune  of 
physicians  of  our  day,  to  live  at  a  period,  when 
public  sentiment  is  loudly  demanding  a  great 
change  in  the  means  of  preserving  health ;  and 
that  like  all  classes  of  men,  accustomed  to  ex- 
clusive privileges,  and  implicit  deference,  they 
have  been  a  little  slow  in  discerning  what  the 
exigency  of  the  times  requires.  Thus  I  explain, 
why  they  have  been  somewhat  behind  the  legal 
.  profession  in  the  temperance  cause. 

As   an   instance   of  this   falling   behind   the 
general  sense  of  the  community,  I  might  men- 


90 

tion  the  fact,  that  after  public  sentiment  became 
pretty  decided  against  the  use  of  ardent  spirit,  it 
began  to  be  seriously  inquired  by  some  of  the 
medical  faculty,  whether  it  might  not  be  wholly 
dispensed  with  in  medicine;  and  for  a  substitute, 
opium  seems  to  have  been  chiefly  depended  on. 
Opium  however  is  more  decidedly  a  poison  than 
alcohol.  But  is  it  liable  to  the  same  abuse  as 
an  intoxicating  drug  ?  Let  Turkey,  or  almost 
any  nation  of  Southern  Asia  answer.  Let  China 
answer,  how  rapidly  within  a  few  years,  in 
despite  of  the  severest  interdicts  of  the  emperor, 
it  has  there  come  into  general  use,  slaying  and 
debilitating  beyond  even  the  pretensions  of 
alcohol  here  in  the  days  of  its  glory. 

I  think,  we  here  have  an  instance,  how  apt  pro- 
fessional reasoning,  not  accustomed  to  submit 
itself  to  the  plain  common  sense  of  mankind,  is  to 
run  counter  to  that  sense.  This  says,  resist  the 
beginnings  of  evil.  When  spirit  was  introduced 
as  the  occasional  cordial,  or  the  exhilarating 
pledge,  O  that  the  men  of  that  day  could  have 
been  aware  of  its  true  character  and  tendency, 
and  crushed  the  serpent  still  young.  A  little 
effort  then  might  have  availed  more  than  a  great 
deal  of  labor  now.  All  mischief  resembles  strife 
in  its  likeness  to  the  letting  out  of  water.     At 


91 

first,  one  man  with  his  shovel,  can  easily  stop 
the  breach ;  it  is  soon  a  flood,  and  to  repair  its 
ravages,  costs  the  labor  of  years. 

But  professional  reasoners  have  not  been  want- 
ing, who  should  seem  to  argue  thus  :  Now  that 
the  evils  of  ardent  spirit,  have  been  fairly  laid 
before  the  public,  and  it  is  not  found  in  reputable 
society  as  a  beverage  ;  since  they  who  drink  it 
betray,  by  their  manner  of  So  doing,  their  con- 
sciousness of  degradation  ;  and  since  its  enter- 
ing into  a  medical  prescription  raises  the  query, 
is  it  necessary '?  since,  in  short,  the  whole  truth 
as  to  the  use  of  spirit  is  so  well  understood,  that 
evil  example  can  hardly  be  called  dangerous ; 
now  it  is  time  seriously  to  agitate  the  inquiry, 
whether  it  may  not  be  banished  from  medicine. 
But  as  people  are  not  generally  awar«  of  the 
nature  of  opium,  of  its  dreadful  ravages 
wherever  men  have  acquired  that  taste  for  it, 
best  acquired  by  often  taking  it  as  a  medicine  ; 
therefore  no  danger  is  to  be  apprehended,  from 
silently  introducing  it  to  supply  the  place  of 
spirit  in  medicine,  lest  it  come  to  supply  its 
place  as  the  desolating  scourge  of  our  land. 

Such  reasoning  would  hardly  escape  from 
men  accustomed  to  have  their  arguments  can- 
vassed before  a  jury.     It  may  very  well  be  com- 


92 

pared  with  theirs,  who  in  an  age,  when  the  evils 
of  clerical  dominion  have  been  fully  discussed 
and  pointed  out,  and  in  a  country,  all  whose 
institutions  are  levelled  against  such  dominion, 
are  sounding  an  alarm  against  the  strides  of  the 
clergy  towards  power,  and  against  a  union  of 
Church  and  State.  Or  to  make  the  parallel 
perfect,  the  acuteness  of  these  alarmists  should 
be  united  with  the  simplicity  of  the  early  be- 
lievers, who,  in  yielding  all  power  to  the  clergy, 
saw  only  its  safety  from  abuse  in  so  holy  hands. 
I  hope,  I  have  rendered  myself  sufficiently  in- 
telligible ;  and  that  you  see,  how  the  fact  as  to 
the  standing  of  the  two  secular  professions  with 
regard  to  the  temperance  cause  affords  no 
ground  for  compliment  on  the  one  hand,  or  for 
reproach  on  the  other ;  that  it  is  but  the  devel- 
opment of  one  of  the  universal  principles  of 
human  nature, — the  principle,  that  however  ex- 
clusive privileges  may  foster  any  science  or 
subject  of  human  thought  in  its  infancy  ;  before 
it  reaches  its  perfection  these  must  be  done 
away ;  it  must  be  stripped  of  mystery,  left  to  free 
thought,  free  discussion,  free  action ;  or  in  other 
words,  it  must  be  based  on  true  republican  prin- 
ciples ;  that  real  republicanism  is  not  more  the 


93 

perfection  of  civil  government,  than  of  religion, 
and  every  other  subject  of  general  interest. 

I  have  entered  upon  this  discussion,  because 
I  think  it  affords  some  suggestions,  especially  to 
men  young  in  the  practice  of  law  or  medicine, 
or  to  those  about  entering  on  professional  studies, 
which  suggestions  I  offer  from  the  sincerest 
conviction  of  their  importance  to  your  welfare. 
You  see,  how  fast  the  progress  of  temperance  is 
diminishing  the  business  of  managing  the  litiga- 
tions, and  of  administering  to  the  diseases  of 
men  ;  while  at  the  same  time  ample  fields  for 
the  exertion  of  talent  are  opening  in  other  direc- 
tions. We  have  too  long  talked  of  the  three 
learned  professions,  as  if  there  were  no  other 
worthy  men  of  collegiate  education.  But  as 
men,  by  becoming  more  temperate,  save  in  the 
expenses  of  litigation  and  of  sickness,  they  will 
become  more  able,  and  more  willing,  to  encour- 
age talent  in  other  directions.  The  expense 
saved  by  totally  disusing  ardent  spirit,  would 
make  annually  many  miles  of  railroad  and  canal. 
Here  is  one  of  the  most  fit  objects,  to  which  to 
appropriate  the  money  so  saved.  Thus  a  way 
is  opening  for  the  employment  of  a  body  of  civil 
engineers.  Is  not  the  occupation  worthy  the 
attention  of  more  of  our  liberally  educated  men  ? 

9 


94 

And  then  again,  people  are  waking  up  to  the 
importance  of  the  general  extension  of  a  more 
thorough  system  of  education.  The  business  of 
teaching  youth  has  been  too  long  made  a  step- 
ping stone  to  something  else;  and  it  seems  to 
me  as  if  Providence  were  diminishing  the  call 
for  men  in  two  of  the  professions,  on  purpose, 
that  more  of  our  college  graduates  might  devote 
themselves  for  life  to  the  business  of  teaching. 

None  need  fear  wanting  employment,  who 
will  only  throw  themselves  on  the  current  of  the 
times,  and  be  up  to  what  the  spirit  of  the  age 
demands,  A  few  years  have  produced  a  great 
change  in  the  clergyman's  situation.  He  no 
longer  stands  on  undisputed  ground,  able  to  get 
along  pretty  well,  by  composing  and  delivering 
his  two  sermons  a  week,  and  not  notoriously 
violating  the  proprieties  of  his  calling.  He  is 
obliged  to  keep  a. good  look  out,  lest  others  go 
before  him  in  a  practical  understanding  of  what 
the  exigencies  of  the  church  require.  He  must 
find  his  happiness,  if  at  all,  in  forgetting  his 
private  concerns,  and  identifying  his  desires 
with  the  best  happiness  of  his  people. 

A  call  to  do  the  like,  seems  now  to  be  made 
by  the  providence  of  God  on  each  profession. 
If  so,  he  who  makes  it,  will  not  disappoint  those 


95 

who  accept  it  in  sincerity  and  in  truth.  Perhaps 
the  time  is  not  distant,  when  much  of  the  learn- 
ing, which  has  been  acquired  for  the  purpose  of 
pleading  causes,  and  of  administering  to  disease, 
will  be  demanded  for  lyceums  in  lectures.  And 
a  town  which  should  so  reform  its  morals  as  to 
aftbrd  an  inadequate  support  for  its  lawyer  and 
its  physician,  we  may  presume  would  have  in- 
tellectual appetite  enough,  and  means  abundant, 
to  maintain  a  lyceum,  and  employ  and  compen- 
sate a  lecturer  on  constitutional  law  and  kindred 
subjects,  and  another  on  natural  history  and  the 
means  of  preserving  health.* 

There  are  signs  of  the  times,  which  indicate, 
that  such  suggestions  are  more  especially  deserv- 
ing the  attention  of  young  men  engaged  in  the 
study  of  medicine  or  contemplating  so  to  do. 
Medical  writers  have  abundantly  confessed  their 
doubts,  whether,  after  all  the  discoveries  made 
in  their  art  for  centuries,  diseases  are  better 
cured,  than  when  the  art  was  in  its  infancy  ; 
and  this  question  people  are  beginning  to  decide 
for  themselves.  The  opinion  is  fast  gaining 
ground,  that  if  we  mean  to  enjoy  health,  our 
main  dependence  under  God  must  be  in  carry- 

*  I  might  add,  to  be  employed  also  at  a  fixed  salary  to  ad- 
ministej  to  the  sickness,  more  or  less,  in  a  given  district. 


96 

ing  out  the  principles  of  the  temperance  refor- 
mation, in  banishing  from  our  tables  their  accu- 
mulated luxuries,  and  returning  to  a  simple  and 
moderate  diet;  and  in  a  proper  attention  to  ex- 
ercise, clothing,  and  guarding  against  indiscreet 
exposure  ;  in  becoming  temperate  in  all  things. 
The  opinion  is  gaining  ground,  that  as  in  other 
things  the  wants  of  nature  are  easily  and  obvi- 
ously met,  and  truth  on  subjects  of  general 
interest  found  at  last  to  be  simple  and  intelligi- 
ble to  common  capacities,  so  if  we  will  return  to 
a  natural  mode  of  living,  our  diseases  will  be 
such  as  common  experience  can  prescribe  for, 
from  a  knowledge  of  the  simples  of  our  own 
woods  and  fields ;  and  that  we  shall  be  under  no 
necessity  of  ransacking  the  bowels  of  every  land 
for  drugs  of  dangerous  character  and  doubtful 
operation. 

I  can  anticipate  nothing  else  from  the  increas- 
ing notoriety  of  the  fact  familiar  to  all  who  have 
looked  into  medical  history,  that  new  diseases 
have  been  originated,  and  old  diseases  aggra- 
vated, pretty  nearly  in  proportion  as  medical 
science  has  become  refined,  and  as  new  and 
deadlier  poisons  have  been  introduced  into  the 
practice,  till  the  matter  found  its  ne  plus  ultra 
in  the  cholera.     There  are  many  striking  facts 


97 

of  this  kind  in  medical  history,  upon  which 
people  are  beginning  to  put  their  own  construc- 
tion. For  instance,  there  is  a  disease  peculiarly 
the  object  of  horror,  and  for  which  mercury  is 
eminently  considered  as  a  specific.  But  no 
mention  of  that  disease  is  found  in  history,  till 
just  about  the  time  when  mercury  was  intro- 
duced into  medicine.  I  need  not  enlarge  on 
such  a  fact,  or  suggest  the  importance  of  the 
inquiry,  how  far  the  disease  has  been  created  by 
mercury.     A  word  to  the  wise  is  sufficient. 

There  is  another  fact  too  much  in  point,  and 
too  deeply  concerning  all  interested  in  the  do- 
mestic relation,  to  allow  me  to  refrain  from 
alluding  to  it  through  a  false  delicacy.  So  far 
as  I  have  inquired,  the  fact  is  confirmed  by  the 
testimony  of  all,  who  are  old  enough  to  be  com- 
petent witnesses.  In  our  country  fifty  or  sixty 
years  ago,  a  branch  of  medical  practice  pecu- 
liarly interesting  to  the  fairer  half  of  our  race 
was  wholly  in  the  hands  of  their  own  sex.  It 
was  then  comparatively  easy  and  safe  ;  while  it 
has  become  difticult  and  dangerous  in  proportion 
as  it  has  fallen  into  the  hands  of  professional 
men,  and  as  they  have  refined  in  their  art.  The 
experience  of  the  whole  world  coincides  with 
this  tale  j  and  I  speak  after  careful  examination, 

9* 


98 

when  I  say,  that  a  suspicion  is  fast  spreading 
through  the  community,  that  the  present  melan- 
choly frequency  of  death  and  debilitated  consti- 
tutions among  our  ladies  from  the  sufferings 
peculiar  to  their  sex,  has  been  the  legitimate 
result  of  committing  so  great  an  outrage  on 
common  sense  and  common  decency,  as  to  sup- 
pose, that  the  most  universal  of  nature's  opera- 
tions cannot  be  performed  without  other  assist- 
ance than  the  delicate  hands,  to  which  it  so 
appropriately  belongs.* 

The  opinion  is  thus  gaining  currency,  that 
there  is  a  radical  fault  in  the  present  method  of 
giving  poisonous  drugs  for  restoring  health,  im- 
planting one  disease  to  expel  another,  and 
making  devil  cast  out  devil.  It  is  beginning  to 
be  suspected,  that  this  is  to  the  body,  what  the 
principle  always  assumed  by  the  heathen  moral- 
ists was  to  the  soul,  namely,  that  one  evil  passion 
must  be  encouraged  and  strengthened,  to  coun- 
ieract  another.  And  as  Christianity,  in  opposi- 
tion to  this,  inculcates  a  few  simple  principles 

*  God  has  promised,  that  women  ^'  shall  be  saved  in 
child-bearing,  if  they  continue  in  faith,  and  charity,  and 
holiness,  with  sobriety."  (1  Tim.  i.  15.)  Surely  a  want 
of  these  graces  is  too  plainly  indicated  by  the  present 
state  of  society. 


99 

as  the  sole  and  sufficient  remedy  for  sin  and 
vice  of  every  kind ;  a  like  simplicity,  it  is  sus- 
pected, will  be  developed  in  medicine ;  that  the 
art  of  treating  the  diseases  of  the  body  will  be 
found  as  simple  and  easy,  as  to  administer  to 
the  diseases  of  the  soul ;  Wash  and  be  clean  ; 
Believe  and  be  saved ;  as  simple  and  easy,  as 
administering  to  the  ills  of  the  body  politic ; 
Leave  to  an  enlightened  people  the  whole  control 
of  affairs,  and  away  with  standing  army  and 
v-established  church,  crown  and  coronet  together. 
If  the  case  be  not  found  to  be  so,  I  do  not  readily 
see,  how  we  shall  free  the  Author  of  nature  from 
the  charge  of  forgetting  for  once  the  usual  anal- 
ogies of  his  wisdom  and  goodness. 

It  is  not  long  since  I  heard  the  opinion 
avowed  by  a  gentleman,  who  had  regularly 
studied  the  profession  of  medicine,  and  practiced 
the  art,  that  the  strong  medicines,  so  called, 
however  they -may  remove  disease,  do  it  at  so 
great  an  expense  to  the  constitution,  that  it 
would  be  a  saving  of  life,  on  the  whole,  to  dis- 
pense with  them  entirely,  and  use  no  means  but 
common  nursing.  The  gentleman  is  well  known 
to  the  public  as  a  writer  and  popular  editor  :  and 
if  I  mistake  not,  his  opinion  is  so  fast  gaining 
currency,  that  at  no  distant  period  many  drugs 


100 

in  our  apothecaries'  shops  will  go  down,  to  seek 
the  shades  of  brotl  er  Alcohol,  in  the  tomb  of 
the  Capulets. 

I  am  sensible  that  I  have  called  up  questions 
which  some  may  think,  might  better  be  suffered 
to  rest.  I  reply,  there  is  no  possibility  of  leaving 
them  at  rest ;  the  spirit  of  the  times  is  calling 
them  up.  I  have  thought  it  an  act  of  kindness 
to  warn  those  who  are  expecting  to  spend  their 
lives  in  the  practice  of  medicine,  that  the  spirit 
of  popular  inquiry  which  has  been  overhauling 
everything  else,  and  stripping  away  mystery  and 
exclusive  pretensions,  will  not  long  leave  their 
profession  at  rest,  on  its  old  foundations  ;  it 
will  subject  it  to  the  scrutiny,  which  has  been 
applied  to  every  other  subject  of  general  interest, 
and  with  such  salutary  effect ;  for  it  begins  to  be 
considered  as  a  law  of  the  human  mind,  that  no 
science  will  be  brought  to  anything  like  perfec- 
tion, while  made  a  mystery  in  the  hands  of  a 
privileged  order.* 

*  In  the  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  for 
Sept.  17,  1834,  is  the  following  passage  ;  ^^  Are  tea  and 
coffee  injurious  ? — A  person  who  has  been  some  twenty, 
thirty,  or  forty  years  in  the  habit  of  taking  these  bever- 
ages, would  probably  lose  more  than  gain  by  abandoning 
them. — It  would  be  a  question  however,  whether  the 
former  (the  milk  and  water  drinker)  would  be  a  happier 


101 

I  invite  you  then,  young  physician,  medical 
student,  or  whoever  is  contemplating  to  study 
the  science,  to  consider  whether  the  indications 
of  the  times  do  not  require  something  else,  than 
going  the  old  round  of  dealing  out  calomel  and 
opium  to  broken  down  constitutions;  whether 
your  only  hope  does  not  lie  in  aiming  whither 
the  tendencies  of  the  age  tend,  to  bring  people 

or  more  useful  man;  whether,  in  fact,  he  would  not  be  a 
milk  and  water  character."  In  the  same  work  for  Oct. 
5th,  1824,  the  following  information  is  given  for  literary- 
men  ;  ^'  In  hot  weather  when  the  system  is  subjected  to 
the  relaxing  influence  of  continued  heat,  a  little  brandy 
and  water  with  dinner  will  be  salutary."  Again  (Sept. 
7th,  1824.)  *'  By  the  continued  heat  of  summer  we  are 
predisposed  to  diseases  of  the  bowels,  and  these  diseases 
can  only  be  prevented,  and  that  disposition  overcome  by 
a  warm  and  bracing  diet,  and  the  occasional  use  of  good 
old  wine,  or  weak  brandy  and  water."  When  public 
sentiment  shall  have  become  sufficiently  decided  for  that 
conclusion  in  regard  to  tlie  common  narcotic  and  stimu- 
lating drinks,  to  which  practical  men  are  everywhere 
coming,  perhaps  some  seventy-five  physicians  of  Boston 
may  venture  upon  the  united  declaration,  that  Tea  and 
Coffee,  as  drinks,  are  never  useful  for  men  in  health. 
Thus  among  the  Principles  of  the  Temperance  Reforma- 
tion, I  include  as  a  most  important  one,  the  assertion  of 
a  right  on  the  part  of  the  people  to  go  before  their  au- 
thorized guardians  in  matters  of  reform.  Let  them  ac- 
cordingly beware,  lest  Alcohol  be  made  a  scape-goat  to 
bear  away  the  sins  of  all  his  fellows. 


102 

generally  so  to  understand  the  art  of  preserving" 
health,  that  it  shall  be  seldom  impaired  beyond 
their  own  knowledge  to  administer  the  means  of 
cure. 

Having  had  some  occasion  to  look  into  medi- 
cal history,  to  mark  the  contradictory  theories, 
which  have  risen  and  fallen,  one  before  another, 
in  such  rapid  succession,  the  darkness  which 
broods  over  the  subject  by  the  confession  of  all  ; 
I  cannot  but  greet  the  growing  disposition  to 
regard  the  extension  of  the  principles  of  the  tem- 
perance reformation  into  all  things  as  the  great 
means  of  forestalling  and  resisting  dyspepsy  and 
other  diseases.  I  greet  it  in  the  language  of 
Milton,  'Hail,  holy  light,  offspring  of  heaven  first 
born.'  I  greet  it,  as  a  meet  accompaniment  of 
the  operations  which  are  tending  to  restore  the 
jarring  elements  of  the  world,  to  the  rule  of  the 
Prince  of  peace  ;  as  an  indication  of  the  ap- 
proach of  the  time,  of  which  it  is  promised,  that 
"  As  the  days  of  a  tree  shall  be  the  days  of  my 
people  ; "  no  longer  like  the  grass  of  the  field, 
no  longer  like  the  fading  flower  ;  when  the  in- 
habitants of  the  land  shall  no  more  say,  I  am 
sick,  and  when  the  infant  shall  die  an  hundred 
years  old.  And  as  one  remarkable  phenomenon 
of  the  religious  world  now  is,  that  the  frequent 


103 

occurrence  of  premature  death 
lost  its  tendency  to  affect  the  survive? 
salutary  sense  of  their  own  mortality,  but  too  "* 
frequently  to  tend  to  just  the  reverse;  so  as 
friends  of  Christianity  we  seem  invited  to  wel- 
come any  means,  which  promise  to  free  us  from 
the  necessity  of  pronouncing  so  often  prema- 
turely that  farewell 


Which  ends  all  earthly  friendships, 
And  closes  every  feast  of  love. 

If  my  suggestions  are  worth  nothing,  let  them 
pass  by.  1  speak  as  to  wise  men.  Judge  ye 
what  I  say. 


APPENDIX. 


Since  this  address  has  been  in  the  hands  of  the 
publisher,  I  have  read,  for  the  first  time,  Spurz- 
heim  on  Education.  A  few  extracts  will  show, 
how  well  some  of  his  sentiments  accord  with  mine. 

"  Among  the  abuses  concerning  rewards  and 
distinctions,  I  mention  only  the  fault  to  give  to 
regular  professors  the  exclusive  right  of  teaching. 
Monopoly  impedes  improvement  in  everything." 
p.  180. 

"  A  great  step  towards  perfection,  would  be  the 
full  and  practical  admission  of  the  principle,  that 


104 

eveiy  one  has  the  right  to  employ  his  talents  to  the 
utmost,  for  his  own  benefit,  as  far  as  he  can 
do  it  without  injuring  others.  This  system  of 
government  is  certainly  superior  to  that  of  exclu- 
sive privileges  of  any  kind."     p.  182. 

"  This  study  (Materia  Medica)  will  not  require 
great  extension,  if  we  attend  more  to  the  art  of 
healing  than  to  the  display  of  knowledge.  The 
most  skillful  practitioners  use  a  small  number  of 
drugs  m  curing  their  patients,  and  they  use  still 
less  for  themselves,  being  indisposed."     p.  202. 

"  The  members  of  the  ordinary  professions  do 
not  think  it  necessary  to  conceal,  that  the  end  and 
aim  of  all  their  exeriions  is  selfishness.  The  same 
anti-social  principle  is  visible  m  all  worldly  affairs, 
—This  overwhelming  flood  of  selfishness  must 
abate,  or  the  general  happiness  of  mankind  remain 
an  impossibility."    p.  271. 

If  further  authority  of  like  import  is  wanted,  the 
following  may  serve  as  a  specimen  out  of  an  abun- 
dance. 

"  By  w^hat  unaccountable  perversity  in  our  frame 
does  it  appear,  that  w^e  set  ourselves  so  much 
against  any  thing  that  is  new  ?  Can  any  one  be- 
hold, without  scorn,  such  droves  of  physicians,  and 
after  the  space  of  so  many  hundred  years  experi- 
ence and  practice  of  their  predecessors,  not  one 
single  medicine  has  been  detected,  that  has  the 
least  force  directly  to  prevent,  to  oppose,  and  expel 
a  continued  fever?  Should  any,  by  a  more  sedu- 
lous observation,  pretend  to  make  the  least  step 
towards  the  discovery  of  such  remedies,  their 
hatred  and  envy  would  swell  against  him,  as  a 
legion  of  devils  against  virtue,  the  whole  society 
will  dart  their  malice  at  him,  and  torture  him  with 
all  the  calumnies  imaginable,  without  sticking  at 
anything  that  should  destroy  him  root  and  branch. 


105 

For  he  who  professes  to  be  a  reformer  of  the  art  of 
physic,  must  resolve  to  run  the  hazard  of  the  martyr- 
dom of  his  reputation,  Hfe  and  estate." — Dr,  Harvey. 

"  As  matters  stand  at  present,  it  is  easier  to  cheat 
a  man  out  of  his  hfe  than  of  a  shilling,  and  almost 
impossible  either  to  detect  or  punish  the  offender. 
Notwithstanding  this,  people  still  shut  their  eyes, 
and  take  everything  upon  trust  that  is  administered 
by  any  pretender  to  medicine,  without  daring  to 
ask  a  reason  for  any  part  of  his  conduct.  Implicit 
faith,  every  where  else  the  subject  of  ridicule,  is 
still  sacred  here.  Many  of  the  faculty  are  no  doubt 
worthy  of  all  the  confidence  that  can  be  reposed  in 
them ;  but  as  this  can  never  be  the  character  of 
every  individual  in  any  profession,  it  would  cer- 
tainly be  for  the  safety,  as  well  as  the  honor  of 
mankind,  to  have  some  check  on  the  conduct  of 
those,  to  whom  they  intrust  so  valuable  a  treasure 
as  health." 

"  Very  few  of  the  valuable  discoveries  in  medi- 
cine have  been  made  by  physicians.  They  have 
in  general  either  been  the  effect  of  chance  or  of 
necessity,  and  have  been  usually  opposed  by  the 
faculty,  till  every  one  else  was  convinced  of  their 
importance.  An  implicit  faith  in  the  opinions  of 
teachers,  an  attachment  to  systems  and  established 
forms,  and  the  dread  of  reflections,  will  always 
operate  upon  those  who  follow  medicine  as  a  trade'. 
Few  improvements  are  to  be  expected  from  a  man, 
who  might  ruin  his  character  and  family,  by  even 
the  smallest  deviation  from  an  established  rule." 

" '  No  argument,'  continues  he,*  '  can  be  brought 

*  The  author  of  Observations  on  the  Duties  and 
Offices  of  a  Physician,  just  quoted. 

10 


106 

against  laying  open  medicine,  which  does  not 
apply  with  equal,  if  not  greater  force,  to  religion  ; 
yet  experience  has  shown  that  since  the  laity  have 
asserted  their  right  of  inquiry  into  these  subjects, 
theology,  considered  as  a  science,  has  been  im- 
proved, the  interests  of  real  religion  have  been  pro- 
moted, and  the  clergy  have  become  a  more  learned, 
a  more  useful,  and  a  more  respectable  body  of 
men,  than  they  ever  were  in  the  days  of  their 
greatest  power  and  splendor.' 

"  Had  other  medical  writers  been  as  honest  as 
this  gentleman,  the  art  had  been  on  a  very  different 
footing  at  this  day.  Most  of  them  extol  the  merit 
of  those  men,  who  brought  Philosophy  out  of  the 
schools,  and  subjected  it  to  the  rules  of  common 
sense.  But  they  never  consider,  that  Medicine,  at 
present,  is  in  nearly  the  same  situation,  that  philos- 
ophy was  at  that  time,  and  that  it  might  be  as 
much  improved  by  being  treated  in  the  same  man- 
ner."— Dr.  Buchan, 

"There  has  been  much  difFei-ence  of  opinion 
among  philosophers  in  regard  to  the  place,  which 
medicine  is  entitled  to  hold  among  the  physical 
sciences ;  for  while  one  has  maintained,  that  it 
'  rests  upon  an  eternal  basis,  and  has  within  it  the 
power  of  rising  to  perfection,'  it  has  been  distinctly 
asserted  by  another,  that  'almost  the  only  resource 
of  medicine,  is  the  art  of  conjecturing.'  '  The  fol- 
lowing apologue,'  says  D'Alembert,  '  made  by  a  phy- 
sician, a  man  of  wit  and  of  philosophy,  represents 
well  the  state  of  the  science.  "  Nature,"  says  he, 
"  is  fighting  with  disease  ;  a  blind  man  armed  with 
a  club,  i.  e.  the  physician,  comes  to  settle  the  differ- 
ence. He  first  tries  to  make  peace ;  when  he 
cannot  accomplish  this,  he  lifts  his  club,  and  strikes 
at  random ;  if  he  strikes  the  disease,  he  kills  the 


107 

disease ;  if  he  stHkes  nature,  he  kills  nature." ' 
'  An  eminent  physician,'  says  the  same  writer,  '  re- 
nouncing a  practice  which  he  had  exercised  for  30 
years,  said,  I  am  weary  with  guessing.'" — Dr, 
Ahercromhie, 

"Medical  science  is  like  a  temple  unroofed  at 
the  top,  and  cracked  at  the  foundation." — Dr,  Rush, 

"  If  we  take  a  retrospective  view  of  the  science 
of  medicine,  with  its  alterations  and  improvements 
in  the  last  two  centuries,  the  niedical  annals  of  this 
period  will  present  us  with  a  series  of  learned  dis- 
sertations by  authors,  whose  names  alone  are  now 
remembered ;  while  their  writings,  under  the  spe- 
cious name  of  improvement^  have  left  us  only  the 
deplorable  consolation  of  knowing,  that  their  works 
have  heaped  system  upon  system,  prescript  upon 
prescript,  error  upon  error,  each  in  turn  yielding  to 
its  follower.  Year  after  year  produces  a  new 
advocate  for  a  new  theory  of  disease,  each  con- 
demning its  predecessor,  and  each  alike  to  be  con- 
demned by  its  successor.  We  wish  a  more  rational 
mode  adopted  for  the  promotion  of  medical  know- 
ledge, than  hair-brained  theories  and  doubtful  facts. 
Observation  must  take  the  place  of  scholastic 
learning  and  hard  names.  We  must  have  facts 
instead  of  opinions,  reason  instead  of  theory,  know- 
ledge instead  of  titles  and  certificates." — JsTew  York 
Medical  Inquirer,  Vol,  L  JVo,  1, 

"  Wealth  may  purchase  the  honor  [of  a  medical 
diploma],  the  influence  of  friends  may  secure  it,  or 
dogged  resolution,  in  attending  three  or  four  courses 
of  lectures,  will  at  length  weary  out  the  patience  of 
professors,  and  enable  the  veriest  dunce  in  the 
universe  to  carry  off  the  prize — it  [the  diploma] 


108 

amounts  simply  to  show,  that  the  persons  who 
wear  this  distinguished  honor,  have  been  able  to 
raise  the  means  to  attend  two  courses  of  lectures. 

"  This  is  a  fair  representation  of  that  system  of 
instruction,  that  is  pursued  in  every  medical  college 
in  the  United  States.  *  *  ^  *  We  appeal  to 
the  public  to  say,  if  it  is  not  one  of  the  greatest  im- 
positions ever  palmed  upon  an  enlightened  age  ;  if 
it  is  not  perfectly  inadequate  to  the  object  in  view, 
and  at  least  ^ve  centuries  behind  the  present  con- 
dition of  literary  improvement." — Western  Journal 
of  the  Medical  and  Physical  Sciences, 

"  The  abuses  of  these  [the  heroic]  remedies,  and 
the  abundant  use  of  even  mild  articles  in  endless 
combinations,  too  often  witnessed  among  us,  cannot 
be  too  openly,  nor  too  loudly  reprobated.  These 
errors  are  disgraceful  to  our  profession.  But  if 
that  were  all,  one  might  be  silent.  They  cause 
endless,  and  often  great  suffering  to  those,  who 
are  already  afflicted  enough." — Dr.  Jackson, 

"  To  a  certain  extent  I  have  seen  demonstrated 
the  actual  benefit  of  certain  modes  of  treatment  in 
acute  diseases.  But  is  the  benefit  immense  ? 
When  life  is  threatened  do  we  often  save  it  ?  When 
a  disease  is  destined  by  nature  to  be  long,  do  we 
often  very  materially  diminish  it?  I  doubt  not 
that  we  sometimes  do  under  certain  circumstances. 
But  on  the  other  hand,  I  must  acknowledge,  that 
what  I  have  seen  here,*  of  disease  and  its  issues, 
has  rather  inclined  me  to  believe,  that  /  individually 
overvalued  the  utility  of  certain  modes  of  treatment 
in  America. 

"  I  believe,  that  we  admit  many  things  in 
America  as  axioms,  which  are  very  far  from  being 

*  In  Paris. 


109 

proved.  We  have  too  long  believed,  that,  because 
demonstration  on  many  points  was  impossible  in 
medicine,  it  was  not  worth  while  to  study  it  like 
an  exact  science. 

"  For  shame  upon  us,  that  the  antiquarian  can 
spend  years  of  toil  and  labor  to  decypher  an  Egyp- 
tian hieroglyphic,  the  naturalist  a  life  of  hardship 
and  privations  to  ascertain  minute  points  of  no 
practical  interest,  and  that  we  should  pass  our  lives 
getting  money,  when,  by  study  and  devotion  to  what 
is  intrinsically  of  equal  interest,  simply  as  an  exer- 
cise of  the  human  mind,  we  could  reach  such  re- 
sults of  essential  importance,  to  the  happiness  of 
millions. 

"  The  reason  that  medicine  *  *  *  is  so  de- 
spised as  a  science  is,  that  it  has  never  yet  been 
studied  as  a  science. 

"  Is  it  enough  for  me  to  know  what  the  books 
can  teach  me  ?  They  contain  more  falsehood  than 
truth ;  and  I  cannot  distinguish  between  them 
without  studying  nature." — James  Jackson,  Jr., 
M.D. 

Such  is  medical  science  and  medical  practice, 
according  to  the  authority  of  those  most  interested 
to  make  a  favorable  report ;  such  the  jugglery 
played  off  upon  fashion  and  legislative  wisdom, 
popular  ignorance  and  science  falsely  so  called. 
Truly  poor  human  wisdom  seems  destined  to  go 
the  same  round  of  folly  in  regard  to  every  general 
interest,  before  hitting  upon  the  right  course, 
namely,  the  full  and  practical  admission,  that 
"  equal  rights  should  be  secured  to  all,  and  exclu- 
sive privileges  to  none  "^ — that  our  best  securities 
for  rendering  men  faithful  and  efficient  are,  to  watch 

*  Governor  Davis's  Speech  to  the  Legislature  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, January  13,  1835. 
10  * 


no 

them  narrowly,  to  leave  competition  free,  and  to 
make  interest  and  duty  coincide. 

It  is  common  indeed,  to  represent  the  confessed 
darkness  of  medical  science  as  necessarily  attached 
to  the  inherent  difficulties  of  the  subject ;  one  in- 
stance among  a  million,  in  which  men  charge  upon 
God  the  consequences  of  their  own  fault,  for  the 
alternative  is  simply,  whether  God  in  constituting 
the  human  body,  with  the  means  of  its  health,  has 
compelled  the  sons  of  jEsculapius  to  float  forever 
on  the  dark  sea  of  uncertainties,  or  whether  human 
folly  and  wickedness  have  attempted  to  make  a 
complicated  and  mysterious  art  out  of  what  God 
had  made  plain  and  simple. 


Ill 


TRUE  CHRISTIANITY  TRUE  RADI- 
CALISM. 

"  In  theorizing  on  the  subject  before  us,  even  wise  and  good  men 
have  often  mistaken  first  principles  j  and  hence  the  disappointment 
of  their  fondest  hopes,  hence  the  failure  of  their  best  endeavors  to 
mitigate  the  evils  of"  society.  "  They  have  not  taken  man  as  he  is,  a 
fallen,  depraved  creature,  naturally  proud,  indolent,  evil  and  unthank- 
ful ;  but  as  he  should  be,  holy,  humble,  industrious,  conscientiously 
disposed  to  do  every  thing  in  his  power  to  "  mitigate  the  sufferings  of 
his  fellows, — President  Humphrey. 

Cuique  in  sua  arte  crtdendam^  is  the  maxim 
of  ordinary  minds.  It  is  an  epitome  of  the  con- 
servative creed.  Cuique  in  sua  arte  credendum : 
how  should  an  obscure  German  monk  pretend 
to  understand  the  Scriptures  better  than  all  the 
learned  doctors  and  endowed  universities  of  the 
church  ?  Cuique  in  sua  arte  credendum : 
whether  God  has  made  the  sun  to  revolve  round 
the  earth,  or  the  earth  round  the  sun,  who  should 
best  know,  the  upstart  Galileo,  or  God's  own 
vicegerent  on  earth — the  infallible  interpreter  of 

*  Every  one  to  be  trusted  in  his  own  trade. 


112 

his  will  ?  Cuique  in  sua  arte  credendum  :  how 
should  a  poor  self-taught  Genoese  pilot  presume 
to  make  discoveries  to  put  to  shame  all  the 
learned  heads,  which  have  gone  before  him  ? 
Cuique  in  sua  arte  credendum :  how  should  the 
lawyers,  merchants,  and  yeomen  of  America, 
pretend  to  reverse  the  decisions  of  the  heads  of 
the  mother  country,  born  to  the  right,  and 
trained  to  the  art  of  governing  ?  Cuique  in  sua 
arte  credendum :  if  the  old  institutions  of  Eu- 
rope require  reforming,  leave  the  work  to  those 
practised  in  the  business  of  government ;  and 
let  not  others  be  agitated  by  the  discussion  of 
matters  which  they  do  not  understand. 

Such  are  the  true  principles  of  the  conservative 
creed.  Thank  God,  a  spirit  like  Luther,  Co- 
lumbus, or  Jefferson,  occasionally  arises,  to  set 
its  fundamental  maxim  at  defiance:  and  in  defi- 
ance of  it  every  radical  improvement  and  capital 
discovery  has  been  brought  about.  Did  I  not 
know,  from  the  record  of  all  past  history,  how 
deeply  rooted  are  conservative  principles  in 
human  nature,  how  slow  mankind  are  to  learn 
the  simplest  practical  truths,  and  to  open  their 
eyes  upon  the  most  glaring  practical  absurdities, 
with  which  they  have  always  been  familiar  ;  I 
should  now  stand  in  astonishment  at  the  spec- 


113 

tacle  of  a  people  exulting  in  their  freedom  from 
the  impositions  of  past  ages,  and  tremblingly 
sensitive  to  vindicate  their  right,  in  all  things  to 
think  and  act  for  themselves ;  yet  sustaining 
two  powerful  interests  to  thrive  on  their  own 
degradation ;  and  in  regard  to  one  of  them  es- 
pecially, acting  as  if  it  were  a  shame  to  exercise 
their  own  judgment. 

I  would  not  excite  ill  will  towards  any  class  of 
men,  as  if  they  were  governed  by  worse  princi- 
ples than  are  common  to  man.  But  while  I 
regard  the  Bible  as  containing  the  truest  philos- 
ophy of  human  nature,  and  while  I  behold  this 
philosophy  verified  by  all  history,  all  observation, 
and  all  experience  ;  I  expect  to  see  every  ex- 
periment verify  the  general  proposition,  that, 
men  acting  in  a  body,  no  degree  of  learning  and 
ingenuity,  sense  of  honor  and  feeling  of  hu- 
manity, is  sufficient  to  set  them  right,  while  it  is 
their  interest  to  go  wrong,  and  while  they  can 
hide  ignorance,  inefficiency  and  dishonesty  be- 
hind professional  mystery,  professional  rules,  and 
professional  privileges.  The  proposition  is  so 
mortifying  to  human  pride,  that  I  do  not  wonder 
it  has  been  so  often  practically  denied  ;  and 
hence  the  results  so  grievously  different  from 
the    anticipations,   when    human   wisdom    has 


114 

thought  to  secure  the  obvious  advantages  of  the 
division  of  labor. 

In  accordance  with  'the  forestated  principle, 
if  I  knew,  that  in  any  state  religion  was  treated 
as  a  subject  too  difficult  for  people  to  exercise  a 
free  judgment  upon,  but  was  committed  exclu- 
sively to  the  care  of  priests,  and  the  priests  to 
receive  their  compensation  in  the  penalties  paid 
by  the  people  for  vices,  and  that  independency 
in  religion  was  stigmatized  as  heresy  or  schism ; 
I  should  expect  the  priests  to  present  the  most 
formidable  obstacle  to  the  improvement  of  the 
people  in  morals  beyond  a  certain  point.  I 
should  expect  them  to  labor  heartily  to  keep  the 
people  from  sinking  to  the  lowest  depths  of  de- 
pravity, lest  their  moral  sense  should  become  so 
extinct,  that  they  should  not  care  to  atone  for 
their  sins,  by  purchasing  peace  of  their  spiritual 
guides.  I  should  expect  them,  in  short,  to  keep 
alive  just  so  much  sensibility  of  conscience,  as 
would  best  render  themselves  objects  of  blind 
veneration  and  most  bountifully  fill  their  coffers. 
And  though  the  priesthood  might  originate  in 
men  of  a  self-sacrificing  spirit,  whom  the  confi- 
dence reposed  in  them  would  only  render  more 
tremblingly  conscientious  not  to  abuse  that  con- 
fidence ;  I  should  still  expect  no  different  ulti- 


115 

mate  result,  from  the  temptation  held  out  to  men 
of  an  opposite  spirit,  to  insinuate  themselves  into 
the  office.  All  this  I  should  so  unhesitatingly 
anticipate  from  leaving  implicitly  trusted  spirit- 
ual physicians  to  find  their  account  in  the  mul- 
tiplication of  spiritual  disease,  that  I  should 
hardly  think  it  necessary  to  examine,  whether 
the  result  verified  the  anticipation. 

If  I  knew  that  in  any  country,  legislation  very 
much,  and  jurisprudence  altogether,  fell  into  the 
hands  of  men,  who  lived  on^the  quarrels  of  the 
people,  and  the  difficulties  into  which  they  fell 
from  the  perplexities  and  uncertainties  of  law  ; 
I  should  not  expect  such  men  to  go  far  ahead  of 
public  sentiment  for  reforming  manners,  and 
bringing  about  the  perfection  of  the  social 
system  :  I  should  expect  to  find  the  '*  uncer- 
tainty of  the  law  "  tenfold  more  **  glorious"  than 
necessity  requires. 

If  I  knew  that  in  any  country  the  people  paid 
their  physicians  for  sickness,  and  not  for  health  ; 
and  that  the  physicians  were  a  regularly  organ- 
ized body,  governed  by  their  own  rules  ;  that  all 
independency  in  medicine  was  stigmatized  as 
quackery ;  and  that  the  best  prepared  for  death 
or  life  were  afraid  to  die  and  ashamed  to  survive 
from  a  disease  not  treated  by  those  supposed  to 


116 

have  a  divine  and  exclusive  right  so  to  do.     I 

should  expect  I   should  expect,  in  short, 

that  where  people  were  papists  in  regard  to  the 
body,  the  results  would  exactly  correspond  with 
those,  which  spiritual  popery  has  everywhere  so 
legitimately  produced. 

So  I  should  reason  a  priori,  I  might  add, 
that  when  I  reason  in  the  contrary  direction,  all 
my  observation  brings  me  to  the  same  conclu- 
sion. So  stubborn  and  multiplied  do  the  plain 
facts  appear,  that  I  should  be  obliged  to  admit 
the  conclusion,  however  confounded  by  it,  and 
unable  to  reconcile  it  with  known  laws  of  the 
human  mind. 

But  it  has  been  objected  to  a  part  of  the  con- 
clusion, that  though  disease  confessedly  rages 
worse,  and  proves  more  unmanageable,  than 
when  medical  science  was  in  its  infancy ;  yet 
the  science  has  really  been  advanced  towards 
improvement,  only  vicious  habits  of  living  have 
more  than  counteracted  the  advantages  of  im- 
proved skill.  The  objection,  however  just, 
affects  not  my  main  end.  The  case  is  as  if  a 
New  England  clergyman  should  visit  Cuba  for 
the  improvement  of  his  health,  and  witnessing 
the  low  state  of  morals,  should  remonstrate  with 
one  of  the  priests  to  this  effect.     Don't  you  see, 


117 

that  the  accumulated  rites,  v/hich  you  have  been 
adding  to  religion,  have  been  v^^orse  than  useless? 
People  are  evidently  less  conscientious  «^nd  virtu- 
ous, than  when  the  ordinances  of  religion  were 
administered  to  them  in  their  primitive  simplicity. 
The  priest  admits  the  fact,  but  still  insists,  that 
the  multiplied  rites  and  accumulated  mystery 
have  had  a  salutary  tendency,  only  they  have 
been  more  than  counteracted  by  bull-lights,  con- 
cubinage, and  other  devices  of  Satan  for  corrupt- 
ing the  people.  The  New  Englander  inquires, 
whether  the  priests  have  remonstrated  against 
these  Satanic  devices  ;  and  finds,  that  they  have 
indeed  done  so,  but  for  the  most  part  formally 
and  officially,  and  as  if  they  expected  not  to  be 
regarded.  Further  investigation  shows  him, 
that  the  priests  are  about  as  often  at  bull-fights, 
and  keep  about  as  many  concubines,  as  the 
people  themselves. 

In  neither  case  does  the  objection  affect  my 
main  end :  because  I  am  not  determining, 
whether,  where  conscience  is  seared  and  intel- 
lect blinded,  as  in  most  papal  countries,  the  ac- 
cumulated rites  and  mysteries  of  religion  increase 
or  diminish  the  evil,  or  which  way  the  evil  is 
affected  by  the  popular  medicines,  where  it  is 
fashionable  for  people  to  live  in  gross  ignorance 

11 


ns 

of  the  laws  of  their  being.  My  main  end  is  to 
expose  the  mischief  (wherever  precisely  it  may 
lie)  of  sustaining  monopolies,  and  having  people 
taxed  for  ignorance,  rather  than  pay  for  know- 
ledge. 

But  it  is  objected,  such  delusion,  as  here  seems 
supposed,  cannot  be  in  this  enlightened  age — 
this  age  of  unlimited  inquiry  and  independent 
thought — this  age  of  overhauling  the  decisions 
of  other  days.  Not  quite  so  fast.  In  this  very 
vaunting  of  liberality,  freedom,  and  independence, 
I  see  a  sign  that  the  clear  day  of  emancipation 
from  superstition  and  prejudice,  has  but  half 
risen  upon  us  :  for  true  independence  of  mind, 
like  true  charity,  "  vaunteth  not  itself"  I  have 
seen  in  our  day,  something  very  like  the  account 
which  Paul  gives  of  some  would-be  liberals  at 
Corinth.  Let  us  attend  a  moment  to  the  history 
of  their  case. 

Among  the  people  converted  from  heathenism 
to  Christianity  at  Corinth,  different  views  pre- 
vailed as  to  the  gods,  which  they  had  formerly 
worshipped.  Some  regarded  them  as  evil  spirits ; 
their  idols  as  the  images  and  representatives  of 
such  evil  spirits  :  and  consequently  all  respect 
shown  to  such  idols,  by  eating  meat  offered  to 
them,  or  in  any  other  way,  as  an  acknowledg- 


119 

ment  of  the  divinity  and  dominion  of  such  evil 
spirits,  and  consequently  an  act  of  rebellion 
against  Jehovah. 

Others  took  a  different  view  of  their  former 
gods :  they  said,  that  an  "  idol  is  nothing  in  the 
world  :  "  that  the  so-called  gentile  gods  were  not 
evil  spirits,  but  no  existences — mere  creatures 
of  the  imagination.  As  was  very  natural,  they 
prided  themselves  on  taking  a  more  philosophical 
view  of  the  matter,  than  that  entertained  by  their 
weaker  brethren,  who  retained  a  ^^  conscience  of 
the  idol,"  or  regarded  the  idols  as  representing 
real  beings — demons — evil  spirits.  An  infer- 
ence from  this  philosophy  was,  that  they  might 
safely  eat  meat  offered  in  sacrifice  to  an  idol, 
even  in  the  idol's  temple ;  because  in  their 
hearts  they  paid  no  respect  to  false  gods,  believ- 
ing, that  the  so-called  false  gods  were  no  exist- 
ences— that  an  idol  was  nothing  in  the  world. 

They  overlooked  the  obvious  consideration, 
that  however  safe  such  conduct  might  be  for 
themselves  considered  alone,  it  was  wrongly 
laying  a  dangerous  snare  for  their  weaker  breth- 
ren, as  they  regarded  them,  thus  tempted  to 
violate  conscience  by  eating  also,  what  they 
could  only  regard  as  meat  offered  to  real  de- 
mons.    When   men   began  thus  to  impose  on 


120 

themselves  by  false  reasoning — to  enter  upon 
forbidden  ground,  it  was  not  singular,  if  they 
erred  from  Christian  simplicity  to  an  extent, 
which  might  seem  hardly  credible.  At  the 
worship  of  the  heathen  temples,  scenes  were 
acted,  in  reference  to  which  Paul  well  says,  that 
it  is  a  shame  even  to  speak  of  the  things,  which 
are  done  of  them  in  secret :  and  of  all  places, 
Corinth  was  noted  for  such  licentious  abomina- 
tions. Is  it  possible,  that  in  the  searching  times 
of  Apostolic  preaching,  any  could  have  yielded 
to  a  temptation  so  gross  ?  Yes :  when  men 
once  swerve  from  Christian  simplicity,  by  listen- 
ing to  the  refinements  of  a  false  philosophy,  the 
downward  course  is  rapid  to  the  very  filth  and 
dregs  of  corruption.  They  come  to  justify  gross 
guilt  by  investing  it  in  smooth  language.  Thus 
it  was  with  some  called  Christians  at  Corinth. 
"  Meats  for  the  belly,  and  the  belly  for  meats :" 
said  they.  (1  Cor.  vi.  13.)  I  need  not  say, 
which  of  the  appetites,  and  what  mode  of  gratifi- 
cation, they  meant  to  plead  for  by  such  language. 
The  apostle's  answer,  which  immediately  fol- 
lows, sufficiently  explains  the  meaning. 

The  obscenities  practised  in  almost  all  hea- 
then religions,  have  had  their  origin  too,  in  phi- 
losophic speculations.     They  have  been  intro- 


121 

duced  as  apt  representations  of  the  fructifying 
powers  of  nature.  Thus  it  is  supposed,  that  the 
fable  of  the  wounding*  of  Adonis,  (called  2W/2-  - 
muz  in  Scripture,)  and  the  consequent  grief  of 
Venus,  (commemorated  by  the  women  weeping 
for  Tammuz,)  was  originally  intended  to  repre- 
sent the  sun  deprived  of  his  generating  power  by 
his  southern  declension,  and  the  consequent  sad 
appearance  of  nature  during  the  winter  months. 
And  a  modern  philosopher, t  speaks  very  con- 
temptuously of  the  abhorrence  expressed  by  the 
Christian  missionaries  for  the  obscenities  exhib- 
ited in  the  heathen  riles,  because  these  were 
first  introduced  as  mystic  representations  of  the 
fructifying  power  of  the  sun,  and  the  correspond- 
ing capacities  of  the  earth  :  just  as  if  the  original 
pretence  were  more  important,  than  the  actual 
effect  of  such  exhibitions  on  the  imaginations  of 
man's  heart,  which  are  evil  from  his  youth. 

Such  were  the  circumstances  of  those,  whom 
Paul  reminded,  that  no  temptation  had  taken 
them,  but  such  as  is  common  to  man.  (1  Cor.  x. 
13.)  He  compared  their  case  with  that  of  the 
ancient  Israelites  in  the  wilderness,  where  so 
many  fell  under  the  temptations  besetting  them. 

*  In  partibus  virilibus.  t  Dupuis. 

11  * 


122 

"  Now  these  things,"  says  he,  ^'  were  our  ex- 
amples, to  the  intent  that  we  should  not  lust 
after  evil  things,  as  they  also  lusted.  Neither  be 
ye  idolaters,  as  were  some  of  them ;  as  it  is 
written.  The  people  sat  down  to  eat  and  drink, 
and  rose  up  to  play.  Neither  let  us  commit  for- 
nication, as  some  of  them  also  committed,  and 
fell  in  one  day  three  and  twenty  thousand.  Nei- 
ther let  us  tempt  Christ,  as  some  of  them  also 
tempted,  and  were  destroyed  of  serpents.  Nei- 
ther murmur  ye,  as  some  of  them  also  murmured, 
and  were  destroyed  of  the  destroyer."  (v.  5 — 
10.) 

Some  of  the  things  here  enumerated  are  obvi- 
ously temptations,  which  always  and  everywhere 
are  common  to  man.  But  the  idolatry  here 
alluded  to,  the  w^orship  of  the  golden  calf,  might 
seem  an  exception.  What  temptation  have  we, 
and  millions  of  others,  to  such  an  act  ?  The 
commonness  however  is  to  be  found,  not  in  the 
particular  act,  but  in  the  principle,  on  which  it 
was  recommended.  The  Egyptians,  among 
whom  the  Israelites  had  so  long  resided,  were 
then  regarded  as  the  most  refined  and  philo- 
sophic people  on  the  earth.  It  was  a  part  of 
their  philosophy,  that  the  invisible  God  is  best 
worshipped  by  the  aid  to  the  imagination  of  some 


123 

visible  representation  :  and  none  was  more  com- 
mon than  the  ox  or  bull,  which  for  his  strength 
and  useful  qualities  was  supposed  to  represent 
some  of  the  most  important  attributes  of  the  in- 
visible Deity.  Thus  the  temptation  to  the  Israel- 
ites to  represent  the  God,  who  had  brought  them 
out  of  Egypt,  under  the  similitude  of  a  calf  or 
bullock,  was  essentially  a  temptation  to  set  aside 
the  positive  word  of  God,  the  evidence  of  plain 
fact,  and  the  dictate  of  common  sense,  from  def- 
erence to  the  speculations  of  those,  whom  the 
world  admired  as  most  wise,  refined,  or  philo- 
sophic* 

What  Paul  then  designates  as  the  temptation 
anthropinos,  that  which  is  common  to  man,  is 
just  this,  the  temptation  to  swerve  from  a  strict 
regard  to  what  God,  or  conscience,  the  evidence 
of  sense,  or  unprejudiced  reason,  dictates,  from 
regard  to  what  is  fashionable  among  those  re- 
puted great  or  wise  in  the  world.  The  fashions 
and  maxims  of  the  world  so  change,  that  we 
cease  to  be  tempted  to  the  particular  wrong  acts, 
into  which  there  was  once  the  greatest  danger  of 

*  This  plain  statement  of  the  case  entirely  refutes  the 
papists'  defence  of  their  images,  that  they  regard  them 
not  as  divinities,  but  as  representations  of  unseen  objects 
of  adoration.  This  was  precisely  the  idolatry  contem- 
plated by  God,  in  the  second  commandment. 


1^4 

falling.  But  the  pride  of  fashion  still  arrays 
itself  against  the  simple  truth  of  God,  and  the 
dictates  of  unbiased  conscience,  and  unsophisti- 
cated judgment :  and  to  fear  to  be  singular  or 
unfashionable,  rather  than  fear  to  go  wrong — a 
foolish  fear  of  being  spoken  of  as  having  a  better 
heart  than  head,  as  a  well-meaning  but  weak- 
minded  person — here  is  the  temptation,  eminently 
that  which  is  common  to  man. 

It  might  be  expressed  in  other  words,  by 
saying,  it  is  the  temptation  to  assume  a  falscj  at 
the  sacrifice  of  a  true  independence.  Or  in 
other  words  still,  we  everywhere  see  men  tempt- 
ed too  successfully  to  strive  vainly  to  cast  off 
their  dependence  on  God  and  the  appearance  of 
implicitly  and  seriously  regarding  his  word,  at 
the  cost  of  making  themselves  slavishly  depen- 
dent on  the  changeable  breath  of  their  fellow 
worms. 

What  multitudes  there  are  vaunting  their 
freedom  from  authority  in  religion,  who  have 
never  thought  on  the  subject,  so  as  to  form  an 
opinion  for  themselves,  fearlessly,  but  with  the 
fear  of  rejecting  the  truth ;  independently,  but 
with  the  feeling  that  God  only  is  worthy  to  be 
depended  on  :  not  afraid  to  embrace  one  truth, 
because  it  is  so  old,  as  to  be  derided  as  going  out 


125 

of  date ;  nor  another,  because  it  is  so  new,  as 
not  yet  to  appear,  whether  it  is  going  to  be  pop- 
ular. And  I  hardly  know  a  surer  mark  of  the 
want  of  this  Christian  independence,  than  great 
quickness  in  men  to  vindicate  their  freedom  from 
human  systems — their  independence  to  think  for 
themselves.  Jesus  on  one  occasion  spoke  to  the 
Jews  of  their  being  made  free  by  the  truth. 
They  took  fire  at  once  at  the  suggestion,  that 
they  were  not  free,  and  replied,  **  We  be  Abra- 
ham's seed,  and  were  never  in  bondage  to  any 
man;  how  sayest  thou  then.  Ye  shall  be  made 
free?"  (John  viii.  33.)  Indeed,  had  they 
forgotten  their  seventy  years'  bondage  in  Bab- 
ylon ?  nay,  that  they  were  even  then  in  bondage 
to  the  Romans  ?  Why  the  very  fact,  that  they 
were  not  then  politically  free,  rendered  them  so 
sensitive,  so  quick  to  vindicate  their  freedom, 
that  they  did  not  stop  to  reflect,  whether  the 
freedom  spoken  of  by  Jesus  were  not  something 
very  different  from  that,  the  want  of  which  was 
so  mortifying  to  their  pride.  We  may  still  see 
cases  very  similar.  If  men  are  very  quick  to 
vindicate  the  freedom  of  their  opinions — to  assert 
their  independence  of  thinking  as  others  do,  of 
believing  a  thing  because  it  has  been  long  or 
generally  believed ;  it  is  a  pretty  strong  indica- 


126 

tion,  that  their  opinions  are  not  properly  their 
own — that  they  are  slaves  to  the  fear  of  not 
being  thought  liberal-minded. 

If  a  man  really  feels,  that  there  is  none  great 
but  God — that  it  is  He  who  sitteth  on  the  circle 
of  the  earth,  while  the  inhabitants  thereof  are 
but  as  grasshoppers — if  thus  it  is  his  first  desire, 
to  believe  what  He  declares,  and  to  do  what  He 
commands,  esteeming  it  but  a  very  small  matter 
to  be  judged  of  man's  judgment,  he  will  be  little 
likely  to  boast  his  freedom  from  being  ruled  by 
the  opinion  of  feeble  mortals.  But,  if  one  has 
never  thrown  off  the  fear  of  man,  so  as  to  resolve 
in  good  earnest,  that  he  will  think  and  act,  as 
accountable  ultimately  to  God  alone  ;  it  is  natu- 
ral, that  a  secret  consciousness  of  the  fear  of 
man,  of  the  slavish  dread  of  being  spoken  of  as 
illiberal  or  unfashionable,  should  render  him 
quick  to  assert  (what  he  is  half  conscious  may 
be  well  disputed)  his  freedom  from  being  subject 
to  the  opinion  of  others. 

This  was  just  the  case  of  the  would-be  liberals 
at  Corinth.  They  made  great  ado  about  their 
emancipation  from  superstition  to  the  freedom  of 
Christianity.  The  secret  was,  they  were  very 
ambitious  of  being  known  as  in  advance  of  other 
Christians.      Yet  their   vaunted   independence 


127 

was  but  false.  It  was  such  a  dependence  on 
the  popular  breath,  as  led  them  to  make  great 
ado  about  their  attaining  to  what  was  indeed 
but  a  very  small  matter ;  and  about  which  a 
mind  truly  liberal  and  charitable  would  never 
have  vaunted  itself;  but  rather  have  said,  Have 
I  faith  in  what  I  differ  from  my  weaker  brethren  ? 
I  will  have  it  to  myself  before  God.  Happy  is 
he,  that  condemneth  not  himself  in  that  thing 
which  he  alloweth.     (Rom.  xiv.  22.) 

Is  there  any  thing  new  under  the  sun  ?  and  is 
not  such  indeed  the  temptation  common  to  man  ? 
Such  thoughts  have  often  occurred  to  me,  from 
observing,  how  many,  who  seem  not  to  be  with- 
out regard  to  Christian  principle,  are  always 
torturing  themselves  with  the  inquiry.  What  will 
people  think  or  say,  if  I  do  so  and  so  ?  The 
observation  has  led  me  to  regard  a  true  Chris- 
tian independence,  as  one  of  the  most  desirable, 
and  last  attained  acquisitions.  By  Christian  in- 
dependence, I  mean  the  settled,  quiet  determina- 
tion, to  have  a  judgment  and  conscience  of  one's 
own;  to  adhere  thereto  strictly,  conscious  that 
one's  vindication  is  on  high,  and  never  disqui- 
eted with  the  apprehension,  what  will  the  world 
think  or  say  of  me  ? 

If  such  independence  were  to  be  found  in 


128 

proportion  as  it  is  professed,  we  should  be  an  in- 
dependent people  indeed.  But  alas  !  where  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty,  and  no 
where  else  is  perfect  freedom  found.  The  very 
vaunting  bespeaks  its  want.  Paul  has  not 
rightly  declared  the  temptation  spoken  of  to  be 
common  to  man,  unless  it  is  that  which  easily 
besets  us.  It  becomes  then  each  to  beware, 
how  easily  he  may  persuade  himself,  that  he  is 
only  disregarding  needless  scruples,  and  reject- 
ing human  authority,  when  all  the  while  he  is 
soothing  his  conscience  with  opiates,  and  afraid 
manfully  to  avow,  what  he  would  see  to  be  the 
truth,  if  he  would  but  let  conscience  honestly 
utter  her  voice. 

Our  peculiar  political  privileges  expose  us  to 
some  peculiar  dangers  from  the  common  temp- 
tation. The  freedom,  with  which  every  one 
may  form  and  utter  his  opinions  on  all  subjects, 
it  must  be  expected,  will  often  be  abused  to 
licentiousness.  It  will  be  construed  as  a  freedom 
to  make  God's  word  speak  just  what  the  indi- 
vidual pleases,  or  to  reject  it  altogether,  after 
just  what  examination  he  pleases  to  give  it. 
Many  are  thrown  on  the  responsibilities  of  free- 
men, who  really  know  very  little,  in  what  true 
freedom  consists.     Such  will  often  be  eager  to 


129 

assert  their  freedom,  by  hastily  denying  the 
plainest  declarations  of  God's  word,  and  what 
wiser  and  better  men  have  firmly  believed. 
And  while  they  promise  themselves  freedom, 
they  are  still  servants  of  sin  and  of  a  guilty  con- 
science, and  slaves  to  the  opinions  of  men. 
They  are  servants  of  sin.  Consciousness  of 
guilt  drives  them  to  tax  their  ingenuity  to  set 
aside  what  God  has  plainly  declared.  And  the 
same  tyranny  of  a  guilty  conscience  hinders  them 
from  reposing  quietly  in  their  boasted  liberty 
and  security.  Hence  their  artifices  to  conceal 
their  uneasiness.  Hence  their  loud  protestations 
of  their  ease  and  confidence  for  the  future ; 
when,  if  they  really  felt  so,  there  would  be  no 
need  of  so  loudly  proclaiming  it.  Hence,  in 
proportion  as  a  guilty  conscience  creates  a  hell 
within,  men  are  eager  to  run  after  every  one, 
who  comes  to  repeat  the  old  story  of  no  hell  to 
be  feared  hereafter  :  when,  if  conscience  were 
really  quiet,  the  stale  report  would  not  be  thought 
worth  running  after. 

They  who  thus  understand  not,  that 

He  is  the  freeman,  whom  the  truth  makes  free, 
And  all  are  slaves  beside, 

are  slaves  to  the  opinion  of  men.     Just  because 
12 


130 

they  have  not  met  God  on  his  own  terms,  settled 
their  account,  made  their  peace  with  him,  and 
acceded  to  the  terms,  on  which  they  are  to  meet 
him  in  judgment ;  just  for  this  reason,  they 
cannot  esteem  it  a  very  small  matter  to  be  judged 
of  man's  judgment :  and  accordingly  their  fear 
of  man  keeps  them  back  from  pursuing  seriously 
the  inquiry,  how  they  are  to  make  their  calling 
and  election  sure,  and  from  seeking  truth, 
wherever  it  is  to  be  found. 

My  countrymen,  will  you  thus  live,  and  move, 
and  have  your  being,  in  the  breath  of  your  fel- 
low creatures  of  yesterday  ?  Shall  the  descend- 
ants of  them,  who  left  their  homes  to  cross  an 
ocean  and  subdue  a  wilderness,  rather  than 
submit  their  faith  to  the  established  creed — of 
them,  who  took  up  arms  at  the  risk  of  estate 
and  life,  rather  than  submit  to  a  paltry  tax  from 
a  foreign  power — shall  men  so  descended,  so 
belie  their  descent,  as  to  suppress  or  give  up 
their  own  sober  convictions  to  their  equals,  who, 
for  aught  you  know,  have  never  sought  the 
truth  with  such  intensity  of  desire,  as  to  deserve 
a  moment's  regard  ?  Will  you  not  so  declare 
your  independence  of  men,  as  to  consider  your 
salvation  of  body  and  soul,  as  too  important  a 
matter  to  be  reached  by  the  fear  of  their  sneers 


131 

or  reproaches  ;  so  that  you  will  quietly  refer  the 
vindication  of  the  reasonableness  of  your  conduct 
to  the  last  tribunal,  like  one  determined  to  stand 
or  fall  to  his  own  master  ?  This  must  be  your 
course,  if  you  would  stand  in  that  judgment  at 
the  last.  Nay  this  must  be  your  course,  if  you 
would  enjoy  here  the  consciousness,  that  your 
peace  is  not  at  the  mercy  of  every  changing 
breath. 

Modern  liberalism  (I  speak  not  of  the  intents 
of  individuals)  seems  to  me  to  be  founded  in  the 
desire  to  repel  the  charge,  that  *'  the  carnal  mind 
is  enmity  against  God  " — "  deceitful  above  all 
things,  and  desperately  wicked,"  and  charge 
back  upon  God  the  blame  of  human  guilt  and 
human  sufferings.  To  this  end  men  say  and 
unsay ;  torture  scripture  and  common  sense  ; 
resolve  abounding  wickedness  into  the  peculiar 
impositions  of  priestcraft — into  the  blasting  in- 
fluence of  false  religion — into  the  unavoidable 
imperfection  of  human  nature,  which  cannot  fail 
of  the  kind  allowance  of  our  heavenly  Father  ; 
which  is  just  a  softer  way  of  saying,  God  will 
acknowledge  himself  to  have  so  constituted  us, 
that  we  inevitably  commit  a  quantum  of  sin,  for 
which  he  cannot  exact  a  strict  account,  without 
forfeiting  his  character  as  a  kind  father — that  so 


132 

far  he  must  acknowledge  sin  to  be  no  sin,  or 
that  its  blame  rests  upon  himself. 

Thus  too  God  has  a  controversy  with  men,  as 
to  the  many  contradictory  interpretations  and 
perversions  of  his  word.  He  insists,  that  the 
fault  is  not  in  himself;  that  he  has  revealed  his 
will  plainly,  so  that  the  way-faring  man,  though 
inexpert,  need  not  err  in  the  way — written  so 
conspicuously,  that  he  may  run  who  reads ;  that 
his  testimony  is  sure,  making  wise  the  simple  ; 
that  what  is  hidden  from  the  wise  and  prudent, 
is  revealed  unto  babes  in  simplicity  of  desire  to 
learn  ;  that  if  any  man  will  do  his  will,  he  shall 
know  of  the  doctrine ;  but  if  men  mistake  it,  it 
is  because,  though  the  light  shines  upon  the 
darkness,  the  darkness  admits  it  not,  but  men 
choose  darkness  rather  than  light,  because  their 
deeds  are  evil. 

But  we  find  men  everywhere  flatly  contradict- 
ing all  this,  and  throwing  back  upon  God,  the 
blame,  which  he  charges  upon  them.  They 
charge  him  with  having  written  his  word  so 
obscurely,  that  the  honest  inquirer  has  no  secu- 
rity against  the  grossest  error  in  interpreting  it. 
Such  is  the  foundation  of  the  papal  pretence  of 
the  necessity  of  an  infallible  interpreter,  and  the 
surrender  of  private  judgment.     And  such  pre- 


133 

cisely,  is  the  foundation  of  modern  liberalism ;  as 
if  God,  in  professing  to  give  us  a  clear  revelation, 
had  proposed  a  riddle  so  obscure,  that  we  must 
not  consider  a  perverse  interpretation  of  it  as  an 
indication  of  a  corrupt  heart.  I  cannot  purchase 
the  credit  of  liberality  at  the  cost  of  admitting  in 
effect  such  a  charge  against  my  Maker,  which 
he  so  fully  repels.  Indeed,  tried  by  pure  reason, 
it  seems  to  me  the  most  unreasonable  of  preten- 
sions. 

But  vi^hen  men  reason  thus  in  regard  to  the 
soul's  concerns,  it  is  natural  that  they  should 
follow  the  same  analogy  in  regard  to  the  body  ; 
that  they  should  resolve  the  contraction  of  the 
average  period  of  human  life  to  less  than  one 
lialf  of  three  score  years  and  ten,  and  the  fright- 
ful aggravation  of  disease,  into  the  unavoidable 
frailty  of  our  bodily  structure,  and  the  necessary 
difficulty  of  arriving  at  truth  as  to  the  prevention 
and  treatment  of  disease ;  rather  than  admit, 
that  God  has  made  very  plain  and  simple  the 
means  of  fulfilling  the  number  of  our  days — too 
plain  and  simple  for  corrupt  human  pride,  which 
would  live  on  the  blind  veneration  of  an  ignorant 
and  debased  multitude.  So.  consistent  is  our 
present  physical  degradation,  and  the  prevalence 
of  unsound  minds  from  unsound  bodies,  and  the 

12  * 


134 

senseless  medical  superstition  which  binds  so 
fast  most  minds  among  us,  with  that  liberality 
which  would  relieve  man  of  his  consciousness  of 
guilt,  and  pretend  to  consult  his  true  dignity  by 
repelling  God's  charge  of  "  deceitful  above  all 
things  and  desperately  wicked,"  and  defying  his 
curse  pronounced  against  him  that  trusteth  in 
man.  Awful  is  the  curse  we  have  incurred,  by 
endeavoring  to  make  out,  that  it  applies  onl}'  to 
man  perverted  by  false  religion,  or  by  some 
other  circumstances  betrayed  into  guilt  not  com- 
mon to  man. 

I  do  not  wonder,  that  the  world  is  so  slow  to 
admit  the  conclusions  1  am  urging,  while  I  see 
everywhere  such  a  desperate  effort  to  evade  the 
fundamental  principle.  This  principle  is  the 
indispensable  foundation  of  true  charity  ;  not 
modern  charity,  but  that  which  Paul  preached 
and  exemplified.  He  has  sufficiently  explained 
why,  little  as  he  found  of  satisfaction  in  the 
world,  and  much  as  he  encountered  of  groveling 
selfishness  and  ungrateful  opposition  from  those 
whose  best  welfare  he  was  fervently  seeking,  he 
always  looked  upon  the  wickedness  of  men  with 
"  a  countenance  more  in  sorrow  than  in  anger." 
The  world  was  crucified  unto  him,  and  he  unto 
the  world,  not  by  the  disappointment  of  his  early 


135 

calculations  on  human  virtue  and  worldly  happi- 
ness, but  by  the  cross  of  Christ.  (Gal.  vi.  14.) 
He  judged,  that,  if  one  died  for  all,  then  were 
all  dead ;  and  that  he  died,  that  they  who  live, 
should  henceforth  live,  not  unto  themselves,  but 
unto  him  that  died  for  them  and  rose  again. 
(2  Cor.  V.  14,  15.)  These  passages  make  the 
whole  matter  plain.  The  mode  of  man's  re- 
demption had  taught  him  to  expect  to  find  men 
everywhere  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,  at  en- 
mity with  God,  and  opposed  to  the  most  benevo- 
lent efforts  for  their  own  welfare.  He  had  found 
himself  to  be  no  exception  to  the  genexa!  rule  : 
but  though  he  seemed  once  to  have  some  real 
acquiescence  in  God's  character  and  law,  yet 
when  the  perfection  of  that  character  and  law 
were  revealed  clearly  to  his  conscience,  he  found 
his  mistake — that  he  had  been  unconscious  of 
enmity  against  God,  only  because  God  had  been 
so  wrongly  apprehended ;  that  he  had  always 
harbored  latent  propensities  to  all  manner  of 
concupiscence,  waiting  only  a  clear  view  of  the 
purity  of  God's  law,  to  rouse  themselves  into 
action:  when  this  discovery  was  made,  the  latent 
sin  revived  in  its  full  power — rose  up  in  positive 
enmity  against  God,  as  an  active  controling  re- 
ality.    (Rom.  vii.  8,  9.  viii.  7.)     Thus  was  laid 


136 

the  foundation  of  Paul's  charity  and  forbearance 
towards  the  faults  of  others.  The  mode  of  man's 
redemption,  and  his  acquaintance  with  his  own 
heart,  had  taught  him  to  expect  to  find  men 
everywhere  and  in  all  circumstances  acting  just 
as  he  found  them  :  therefore  he  was  not  disap- 
pointed, nor  his  temper  soured  and  himself  ren- 
dered misanthropic. 

We  see  accordingly,  that  if  men  take  a  differ- 
ent view  of  human  nature,  when  their  attention 
becomes  riveted  upon  one  form  of  wickedness,  or 
when  their  party  spirit  is  raised  against  it,  they 
are  much  more  merciless  in  their  denunciations 
than  the  Christian,  who  enters  thoroughly  into 
Paul's  views.  And  many  who  admit  into  their 
creed,  expressed  however  strongly  in  general 
terms,  the  confession,  that  universally  the  heart 
of  man  is  deceitful  above  all  things  and  desper- 
ately wicked,  still  reluct  obstinately  against  fully 
admitting  the  same  as  a  sober  reality.  Thus 
the  denunciations  against  the  unparalleled  wick- 
edness of  slave-holding,  or  any  other  form  of  de- 
pravity, are  founded  in  a  deep-rooted  determina- 
tion to  get  rid  of  admitting,  that  we  must  soberly 
calculate  on  finding  unrenewed  men  in  all  cir- 
cumstances at  enmity  with  God,  and  of  course 
at  enmity  with  the  best  welfare  of  his  creation. 


137 

In  the  fashionable  habit  too,  of  courting  the 
praise  of  liberality,  by  speaking  soft  words  of 
popery,  I  see  much  to  account,  why  the  commu- 
nity is  so  disposed  to  go  on  in  the  admission  of 
papistical  principles  in  regard  to  the  body. 

As  a  remedy  for  existing  evils,  next  to  that 
greatest  and  best  of  remedies,  which  the  gospel 
brings  to  every  heart  which  heartily  receives  it, 
I  repeat,  that  "we  must  abolish  all  monopolies 
and  mysteries,  make  the  interest  and  duty  of  all 
classes  coincide,  and  have  people  pay  for  know- 
ledge rather  than  be  taxed  for  ignorance."  I 
do  not  say,  into  precisely  what  form  these  prin- 
ciples should  be  carried  out.  One,  as  that  to 
which  we  must  ultimately  arrive,  suggests  itself 
to  me,  that  the  whole  community  be  divided  into 
associations,  each  about  the  size  of  a  common 
parish,  to  employ  and  compensate  its  physician, 
with  a  fixed  salary,  to  lecture  on  the  means  of 
preserving  health,  and  administer  to  all  its  sick- 
ness :  and  its  lawyer  likewise,  to  attend  on  the 
same  terms  to  all  the  business  within  his  depart- 
ment. It  is  not  extravagant  to  say,  that  in  such 
a  state  of  things,  sickness  would  soon  be  dimin- 
ished to  one  twentieth  its  present  amount,  human 
life  prolonged  again  to  the  average  duration  of 
three  score  years  and  ten,  and  nineteen  twen- 


138 

tieths  of  the   now  litigated  cases  settled  in  a 
private  way. 

But  if  this  condition  cannot  be  brought  about 
at  once,  there  are  steps,  which  we  can  take 
towards  it.  We  need  not  by  our  votes  give  the 
legal  profession  so  large  a  representation  in  our 
legislative  assemblies,  so  beyond  its  relative  im- 
portance in  the  community.  We  may  for  the 
most  part  keep  out  of  courts  of  justice,  and  leave 
the  dependents  thereof  alone  to  their  honorable 
business.  Public  sentiment  may  exact,  that  the 
lawyer's  fees  shall  not  depend  on  the  length  to 
which  he  can  protract  a  case — that  the  fee  shall 
be  settled  by  agreement  with  his  client  before- 
hand, to  depend  on  success,  if  the  client  so 
exacts.  In  medicine,  if  we  cannot  at  once 
establish  the  habit  of  paying  for  health,  and  not 
for  sickness,  we  can  demand  the  immediate 
repeal  of  all  laws*  recognizing  a  monopoly  and 
exclusive  privileges :  or  we  can  practically 
nullify  such  laws,  by  showing,  that  we  will  not 
submit  to  our  legislators,  what  medicine  we  will 
take,  or  what  class  of  physicians  employ,  more 

*  This  whole  volume,  (except  the  Appeal  to  the  legal 
profession,)  was  written  before  the  extra-session  of  the 
legislature  of  Massachusetts,  in  1835.  A  few  sentences 
are  less  fully  applicable,  than  they  have  been  here,  and 
are  still  in  many  of  the  States. 


139 

than  we  will  submit  to  them,  what  creed  we 
shall  believe,  or  what  church  attend  ;  that  we 
mean  to  have  every  practitioner  estimated,  as 
he  can  satisfy  people  of  his  success  in  curing, 
without  the  slightest  regard,  whether  he  is  dig- 
nified M.  D.  or  not.  All  the  arguments  for 
such  laws,  are  so  exactly  parallel  to  what  have 
been  used  in  almost  every  country  for  an  estab- 
lished church,  and  for  legislation  against  heresy 
and  schism,  and  so  fully  refuted  here,  that  to 
indicate  the  comparison  is  a  sufficient  refuta- 
tion.* 

I  am  earnest  on  this  point,  because,  next  to 
the  blessing  of  that  liberty  found  only  where  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  I  thank  God  most  heartily 
for  my  emancipation  from  medical  superstition  ; 
that  I  dare  use  my  own  eyes  to  mark  the  effects 

*  "  The  condition  of  a  minister  is  not  such  as  is  stated 
to  exist  in  America,  where,  as  we  are  assured  by  a  well 
known  and  credible  minister  of  that  country,  '  no  min- 
ister of  any  Protestant  denomination,  to  my  knowledge, 
has  ever  received  a  sufficient  living  two  years  in  succes- 
sion.' " — Dr.  Dealtrifs  charge,  quoted  Christian  Observer j 
May,  1835. 

The  American  minister  referred  to,  is  doubtless  Mr. 
Flint,  who  asserts  thus  much  in  regard  to  the  western 
States.  The  extension  of  his  remark  to  the  whole 
country,  was  but  a  moderate  stretching  for  a  church-and- 
state  advocate. 


140 

of  medical  practice  ;  and  despise  the  cry  qitacJc" 
ery  or  empiricism,  when  used  to  frighten  people 
into  obedience,  and  to  sustain  the  credit  of  the 
old  monopoly,  as  heartily  as  I  do  the  cry  heresy 
or  illiherality,  when  used  to  deter  from  free  in- 
quiry, or  a  free  expression  of  opinion  in  religion. 
There  is  very  manifest  a  restlessness  in  the 
community  at  present ;  a  deep  conviction,  that 
the  social  system  is  far  behind  its  perfection ;  a 
disposition  to  distrust  every  thing  old,  and  to  try 
every  thing  new,  a  groaning  and  travailing  in 
pain  together,  as  if  people  were  half  conscious 
of  a  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God,  to 
which  they  may  fairly  aspire,  and  fully  conscious 
of  their  immense  distance  from  yet  reaching  it. 
In  such  circumstances,  I  see  immense  danger  of 
a  general  rising  to  sweep  away  everything  old 
and  venerated  indiscriminately.  To  prevent 
such  a  catastrophe  precisely,  I  have  ventured  to 
give  these  my  thoughts  to  the  public,  in  which  I 
have  attempted  to  point  out,  to  the  best  of  my 
ability,  where  the  great  evil  lies,  and  to  invite 
all  to  a  cordial  co-operation  for  its  correction. 
I  believe  there  is  good  sense  and  generosity 
enough  in  the  people,  to  give  each  profession  a 
fair  opportunity  yet  to  correct  its  own  evils  ;  but 
if  this  opportunity  is  not  soon  and  heartily  em- 


141 

braced,  I  expect  to  see  the  people  arise  in  their 
strength,  to  take  the  correction  into  their  own 
hands.  I  write,  not  to  urge  them  to  this.  That 
were  unnecessary,  for  the  event  is  inevitable 
according  to  the  present  course  of  things.  But 
I  write,  to  urge  upon  those  most  interested,  to 
avert  the. danger  by  removing  the  just  causes  of 
complaint :  or,  if  they  will  not  take  warning, 
that  the  people  may  be  better  instructed,  where 
precisely  lies  the  cause  of  their  grievances,  and 
the  impediments  to  the  progress  of  social  im- 
provement, that  they  may  not  assail  rooted  habits 
and  old  institutions  indiscriminately. 

I  am  sensible  that  there  is  a  melancholy 
aspect  to  the  considerations  I  have  presented. 
Melancholy  indeed  it  is,  to  see  men  everywhere 
leagued  together  to  counteract  the  benevolent 
designs  of  their  Creator  towards  themselves. 
But  the  view  I  have  taken  seems  to  me  the  most 
cheering  and  animating  which  can  be  taken  in 
the  face  of  obvious  facts.  If  it  sets  man  very 
low,  it  vindicates  the  conduct  and  word  of  God. 
It  shows,  that  our  errors  and  sufferings  are  not 
because  He  made  our  best  welfare  either  for  this 
life  or  the  life  to  come,  so  difficult  to  be  found  ; 
but  that  men  have  obstinately  and  inexcusably 
set  themselves  against  the  rules  of  living  pre- 

13 


142 

scribed  in  his  word,  and  against  the  warnings  not 
to  trust  our  interests  to  human  disinterestedness, 
perpetually  there  inculcated,  and  in  his  provi- 
dence also.  It  shows  too  that  we  may  anticipate 
speedily  a  vast  improvement  of  the  social  system, 
without  trusting  to  human  virtue  to  bring  it 
about ;  that  the  simple  spirit  of  republicanism, 
modified  only  by  that  degree  of  disinterested 
Christian  benevolence  which  may  be  fairly  cal- 
culated on,  will  inevitably  bring  about  the  glori- 
ous result,  and  evince,  in  a  stronger  sense  than 
has  generally  been  apprehended,  that  vox  populi 
is  indeed  vox  Dei.  May  we  then  repeat  the 
maxim,  not  as  hitherto  too  generally,  to  magnify 
our  own  achievements,  but  to  ascribe  the  king- 
dom, the  power,  and  the  glory,  where  they  are 
most  justly  due  ;  and  to  ask,  with  more  wonder- 
ing admiration.  What  have  we  that  we  have  not 
received?  and.  Who  hath  made  us  to  differ? 

I  know,  that  very  different  anticipations  as  to 
the  ultimate  issue  of  things  are  entertained  by 
many,  in  view  of  some  obvious  tendencies  to  dis- 
organization, to  abusing  liberty  to  licentiousness. 
I  cannot  but  consider  these  things  as  incident 
to  our  present  transition  state  from  an  im- 
perfect to  a  perfect  degree  of  liberty,  rather 
than  as  evils  to  be  perfected,  when  republican 


143 

principles  shall  have  become  fully  recognized- 
As  Paul  declares,  that  '*  where  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  is,  there  is  liberty  ■"  (2  Cor.  iii.  17.)  so  I 
believe,  that  where  liberty  is — where  the  shackels 
of  aristocratic  habits  and  superstition  are  com- 
pletely thrown  off— there  will  be  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord ;  there  Christianity  in  its  simplicity  will 
be  most  cordially  received  ;  there  men  will  divest 
themselves  of  false  delicacy  in  regard  to  religion, 
which,  like  false  delicacy  in  other  things,  is 
most  powerful  in  a  transition  state  ;  there  people 
will  dare  really  to  think  for  themselves  on  relig- 
ion, instead  of  being  beguiled  by  the  name  of  so 
doing.  Where  they  do  so,  as  conscious  of  being 
left  to  stand  or  fall  to  their  own  Master,  they  are 
in  the  readiest  way  to  find  that  the  service  of 
God  is  perfect  freedom ;  the  uncaviling  reception 
of  his  declarations,  the  best  cultivation  of  the 
intellect ;  and  the  casting  of  their  crowns  at  his 
feet,^  their  highest  exaltation. 

I  believe  we  have  reached  the  lowest  point  of 
physical  degradation ;  that  the  present  general 
move  among  people,  to  inquire  how  health  is  to 
be  preserved  and  life  prolonged,  will  speedily 
issue  in  results  parallel  to  the  strengthened  and 
cultivated  intellects  everywhere  raised  up,  when 
after  the  stupor  of  ages,  people  resolved  to  in- 


144 

quire   for   themselves   into  the  means  of  their 
spiritual  health. 

We  must  indeed  calculate  on  not  finding  the 
frailty  of  man  and  the  shortness  and  uncertainty 
of  life,  so  fertile  a  topic  of  exhortation,  as  has 
hitherto  been.  But  already,  how  has  it  ceased 
to  move  !  How  generally  has  it  been  confessed, 
that  in  the  prevalence  of  the  cholera,  or  other 
epidemic,  instead  of  learning  wisdom  from  judg- 
ments abroad  in  the  earth,  men  have  rather  said 
practically,  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow 
we  die  !  Now  my  philosophy  of  Body  and  Soul 
leads  me  to  attribute  this  insensibility  to  the  lan- 
guage of  Providence  and  to  the  declarations  of 
revelation,  these  intellects  debased  to  sense  and 
dead  to  things  unseen,  very  much  to  physical 
causes — to  the  abominations,  with  which  human 
stomachs  are  treated  under  the  names  of  food 
and  medicine.  I  anticipate  indeed  a  prolonga- 
tion of  human  life  to  the  patriarchal,  if  not  to  the 
antediluvian  age  :  but  not  a  return  of  antedilu- 
vian wickedness ;  because  the  means,  by  which 
life  is  to  be  prolonged,  coincide  with  the  self- 
denying  spirit  of  Christianity.  They  who  expect 
the  result  simply  from  a  reform  in  medicine,  or 
that  medical  skill  at  its  best  estate  is  to  do  much 
towards    lengthening   life,  will   inevitably   find 


145 

themselves  mistaken.  Yet  this  is  evidently  the 
expectation  of  the  reckless  portion  of  the  com- 
munity— thepartizansof  infidelity  and  sensuality. 
Very  different  were  the  rules  of  living,  upon  the 
observance  of  which  God  promised  to  the  ancient 
Israelites,  "  He  shall  bless  thy  bread,  and  thy 
water ;  and  I  will  take  away  sickness  from  the 
midst  of  thee.  There  shall  nothing  cast  their 
young,  or  be  barren,  in  thy  land  ;  the  number 
of  thy  days  (70  years)  I  will  fulfil."  (Ex.  xxiii. 
25,  26.)  Indeed  I  need  not  the  authority  of 
revelation  to  satisfy  me,  that  such  a  mode  of 
living,  as  Moses  prescribed,  is  the  only  sure 
means  of  securing  such  results. 

As  the  line  between  them  who  mean  to  serve 
the  Lord  in  body,  soul  and  spirit,  and  them  who 
mean  to  live  to  themselves,  is  becoming  more 
and  more  distinct,  I  am  not  sure  that  the  final 
extirpation  of  wickedness  from  the  earth  will 
not  be  brought  about  by  a  still  increasing  de- 
votion to  appetite,  with  a  corresponding  depend- 
ence on  the  stimulating  process  of  repairing  for 
a  time  the  constitution,  till  the  race  of  the 
wicked  become  extinct  through  want  of  physical 
ability  for  its  own  continuance.  We  are  not 
like  the  antediluvians,  with  the  power  of  abusing 
constitutions  fitted    to    run   a  thousand   years. 

13  * 


146 

Hard  and  self-denying  is  the  process  of  getting 
back  to  any  thing  nigh  where  we  were.  The 
wisdom  learned  by  this  process  will  be  a  strong 
guarantee  against  a  return  to  the  sins,  which 
have  brought  us  where  we  are. 

Thus  we  might  reason,  independent  of  God's 
express  promise,  that  the  time,  when  in  conse- 
quence of  ceasing  to  eat  swine's  flesh,  and  to 
practise  kindred  abominations,  (Isa.  Ixv.  4.)  the 
days  of  his  people  shall  be  prolonged  to  the  age 
of  a  tree,  (v.  22.)  shall  be  a  time  of  correspond- 
ing spiritual  prosperity.  *^  And  it  shall  come  to 
pass,  that  before  they  call  I  will  answer  ;  and 
while  they  are  yet  speaking,  I  will  hear.  The 
wolf  and  the  lamb  shall  feed  together^  and  the 
lion  shall  eat  straw  like  the  bullock  :  and  dust 
shall  be  the  serpent's  meat.  They  shall  not 
hurt  nor  destroy  in  all  my  holy  mountain,  saith 
the  Lord."     (vs.  24,  25.) 

In  the  increasing  sense  of  our  shameful  phys- 
ical degradation,  and  the  spreading  resolution  to 
know  and  remove  the  cause,  I  see  one  of  the 
surest  indications,  that  '*  the  night  is  far  spent,'' 
and  "the  day  is  at  hand.''  (Rom.  xiii.  12.)  I 
see  such  an  indication  in  the  present  groaning 
and  travailing  in  pain  together,  as  under  a  bond- 
age  to   be   borne  no  longer.     The   increasing 


147 

light  of  that  day  must  ^hame  men  out  of  the  arti- 
fices, at  present  so  often  employed,  to  conceal  their 
life-long  bondage  through  fear  of  death.  It  will 
not  require  the  full  blaze  of  day,  to  make  it  very 
clear,  that  many  betray  their  subjection  to  such 
bondage,  by  the  levity,  or  by  the  assurance,  with 
which  they  assert  their  freedom  from  it. 

Reader,  are  you  one  of  those,  who  profess  to 
have  ascertained,  that  the  world  of  wo  is  only  a 
bugbear  fit  to  frighten  children,  and  for  doting 
insanity  to  rave  about?  Are  the  fears  of  a  com- 
ing judgment  the  frequent  subject  of  your  jest 
over  your  cups,  or  in  the  merry  circle  ?  Now 
have  a  care,  lest  as  the  intellects  of  men  clear 
from  the  clouds  arising  from  abused  stomachs, 
you  betray  to  them  more  than  you  would  wil- 
lingly confess :  lest  it  appear  too  plainly,  that 
you  are  jesting  away  your  fears. 

Suppose  you  were  about  sending  a  boy  by 
night  on  an  errand  through  some  lonely  path, 
that  led  by  a  building  which  popular  supersti- 
tion regarded  as  a  haunted  house.  You  lecture 
him  on  the  folly  of  such  notions,  and  exhort  him 
to  fear  nothing.  He  promises  fairly,  and  sets 
out.  Now,  as  he  draws  near  the  fearful  place, 
he  begins  to  whistle ;  and,  as  he  draws  nearer 
still,  to  jest   about  goblins  and  ghosts.     Well 


148 

you  see  through  all  this.  He  is  resolved  to  have 
enough  of  the  man  not  to  run  like  a  coward  ; 
but  yet  cannot  summon  fortitude  enough  to 
pass  on  in  quiet  dignity.  He  must  use  some 
artifice  to  keep  up  his  courage.  He  is  whistling 
away  his  fears. 

I  have  seen  very  similar  conduct  in  persons  of 
a  larger  growth,  who  were  children  in  religious 
knowledge.  I  have  witnessed  a  sporting  with 
the  fear  of  death  and  the  judgment  to  follow, 
very  inconsistent  for  men,  who  had  dispassion- 
ately and  deliberately  found  that  fear  to  be 
groundless,  but  which  bore  a  very  strong  resem- 
blance to  the  conduct  of  the  boy  jesting  away 
his  fears.  Have  a  care,  I  repeat,  lest,  while  you 
laugh  at  the  fears  entertained  by  others  of  the 
punishments  of  a  life  to  come,  you  do  not  let  out 
the  secret,  that  you  are  laughing  up  your  own 
courage — that  you  are  laughing  away  your  own 
fears. 

If  a  portion  of  your  neighbors  should  be  seized 
with  such  an  insanity,  as  to  be  continually  dis- 
quieted by  spectres  floating  before  their  eyes, 
the  creation  of  their  own  imagination,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  they  were  never  secure  to 
follow  their  business  quietly,  or  to  taste  undis- 
turbed any  of  the  enjoyments  of  life;  would  it  be 


149 

characteristic  of  the  sound  mind  to  make  a  jest 
of  the  imaginary  miseries,  that  others  were  suf- 
fering ?  Would  you  not  rather  suspect,  that  he 
who  could  thus  sport  with  the  pitiable  delusion 
of  his  fellows,  was  either  sadly  wanting  in  hu- 
manity, or  that  his  own  mind  began  to  be  in- 
fected with  the  common  delusion,  and  that  he 
was  making  his  utmost  effort  to  laugh  himself 
out  of  it  ? 

Let  me  then  assure  you,  who  affect  to  laugh 
at  the  fear  of  a  coming  judgment,  that,  however 
unseemly  the  subject  be  for  mirth,  while  you 
profess  to  regard  such  fear  as  groundless,  I  feel 
a  sort  of  satisfaction  in  seeing  you  make  it  a 
subject  of  derision.  I  take  it  as  an  indication, 
that  you  are  not  sincere — that  your  conscience 
is  not  so  seared,  as  you  would  have  it  believed — 
that  you  cannot  set  the  justice  of  God  at  defi- 
ance so  quietly,  as  you  profess — that  your  fears 
will  come  in  spite  of  you — and  that  you  would 
not  be  so  inhuman,  as  to  deride  or  reproach 
others  for  tormenting  themselves  with  the  fear 
of  what  may  follow  after  death,  if  you  did  not 
find  it  necessary  to  adopt  this  poor  artifice,  to 
conceal  your  fears  from  yourself,  and  from  others 
too  ;  like  the  boy,  who  jests  about  goblins  in  the 
dark,  to  keep  up  his  courage — to  jest  away  his 
fears. 


150 

One  thing  is  yet  wanting  to  render  the  suppo- 
sition I  have  made  parallel  with  your  case. 
None  less  resemble  the  men  tormented  with  im- 
aginary spectres,  none  look  forward  with  less 
trembling  apprehensions,  than  the  Christians, 
whom  you  imagine  so  bound  and  tormented  by 
the  fear  of  hell.  If  they  are  deluded,  it  is  a  de- 
lusion of  bright  images — a  halo  around  the  nar- 
row house,  so  that  no  longer  to  their  apprehen- 
sion do 

Darkness,  death,  and  long  despair, 
Reign  in  eternal  silence  there. 

Your  mode  of  reasoning  is  such,  as  seems  to 
me,  no  intellect  could  admit,  but  from  sympathy 
with  a  sadly  maltreated  stomach.  I  therefore 
look  to  physical  improvement  as  the  great  and 
effectual  means  of  exposing  its  inconclusiveness. 

The  indications,  that  the  long  night  of  super- 
stition and  ignorance,  of  mental,  moral,  and 
physical  degradation  is  far  spent,  and  that  day 
in  its  best  sense  is  at  hand,  should  serve  to  all 
as  a  powerful  incitement,  to  cast  away  the  works 
of  darkness,  and  to  put  on  the  armor  of  light. 
The  day  promised  is  such  as  shall  try  men's 
souls — try  them  beyond  the  trial,  to  which  they 
havfe  been  put  by  the  former  great  developments 


151 

of  republican  principles.  In  the  very  want  of 
faith,  now  prevalent,  to  apprehend  the  promises 
of  the  final  reign  of  truth  and  righteousness  on 
the  earth,  I  seem  to  see  a  sign  of  the  Son  of 
man's  speedy  coming.  (Lukexviii.  8.)  If  they 
who  are  essentially  prepared  for  his  coming, 
need  to  be  aroused  from  their  sleep,  to  prepare 
to  welcome  him,  how  shall  fare  the  remaining 
multitude  yet  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins  ?  And 
what  voice  shall  effectually  warn  them  to  meet 
him,  who  is  like  a  refiner's  fire,  and  like  fuller's 
soap  1  If  the  amount  of  temptation  common  to 
man  has  hitherto  proved  sufficient  to  entice  the 
many  into  the  broad  way  that  leadeth  to  destruc- 
tion, and  to  leave  to  the  few  the  narrow  way 
that  leadeth  unto  life ;  how  shall  it  be  in  the 
last  great  trial  preparatory  to  the  final  establish- 
ment of  the  Son  of  God  in  his  kingdom  upon 
earth  ? 

Reader,  I  would  fain  add  a  w^ord  to  beat  you 
off  from  the  old  cavil,  that  your  heavenly  Father 
will  surely  provide,  that  so  many  of  his  creatures 
shall  not  be  lost  by  trials,  which  himself  had 
ordained  with  full  fore-knowledge  of  the  result. 
I  would  fain  show  you,  that  this  plea  not  only 
contradicts  his  express  word,  but  really  charges 
the  guilt  of  your  sins  upon  him.     I  have  endeav- 


152 

ored  to  convict  you  of  carrying  on  a  controversy 
with  your  Maker  in  regard  to  the  life  that  now 
is,  of  being  deluded  by  fashion  into  using  the 
engines  of  death  as  the  means  of  life — all  in 
defiance  of  the  plain  word  of  God,  and  the  evi- 
dence of  your  own  eyes.  The  conviction  I 
should  little  value,  unless  it  lead  you  to  inquire, 
whether  it  be  not  even  so  for  the  life  that  is  to 
come. 

Do  not  inquire  why  God  does  not  force  the 
soul's  salvation  upon  you,  any  more  than  the 
health  of  the  body,  in  despite  of  your  negligence, 
or  your  efforts  to  destroy  both.  You  may  see 
the  reason  fully,  if  landed  at  last  on  the  Rock  of 
ages,  you  look  back  on  these  temptations  and 
dangers,  and  around  on  the  ruins  of  a  world, 
w  .h  feelings  akin  to  those,  with  which  the  mar- 
iner, hardly  escaped  from  shipwreck,  climbs  the 
ocean's  bank,  and  turning  sees  his  fellows  still 
laboring  hopelessly  beneath  the  tempest.  And 
the  painful  spectacle  is  not  without  its  pleasure : 
not  that  he  delights  in  the  calamity  of  others  ; 
but  because  the  sight  gives  him  a  keener  appre- 
hension of  his  own  security.  That  similar  may 
be  the  feelings,  with  which  every  reader  shall 
survey  the  last  great  wreck,  is  the  fervent  prayer 
of  the  writer. 


•# 


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